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Cytomegalovirus (CMV) esophagitis is a viral infection of the esophagus, the muscular tube through which food travels from the mouth to the stomach.
See also:
Cytomegalovirus esophagitis
CMV is caused by the cytomegalovirus (CMV). This condition usually affects people who have a weakened immune system.
Symptoms include:
- Difficult and painful swallowing
- Low-grade fever
- Mouth sores (oral lesions)
- Blood and urine culture
- CMV antigenemia
- Cold agglutinins
- Culture of cells obtained from an esophageal brushing
- Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) with or without a biopsy
Treatment involves antiviral medications that are given through a vein (intravenous) or by mouth (orally).
Esophagitis can usually be treated effectively. The outcome depends upon the immune system problem that makes the person susceptible to the infection.
- Infection at other sites
- Recurrent infection
Call your health care provider if you develop symptoms of CMV esophagitis, especially if you have a suppressed immune system.
Preventing AIDS can help avoid opportunistic infections, such as those caused by the cytomegalovirus. (Opportunistic infections are infections by organisms that are not normally disease-producing, but that take advantage of a situation, such as a damaged immune system.) People with AIDS who are effectively treated with antiretroviral therapy are much less likely to get CMV infection.
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