CMV - Diagnosis??

I asked about my symptoms on 8/17  “ is this herpes?”. Please reread this post for a full understanding of my situation. I had a full STD work up on 9/5/07. Herpes and all else was negative except for CMV.  They told me that the IGG for CMV was positive at 2.86 and the IGM was negative at 0.34. They told me that I didn’t have CMV and that the test indicated only previous exposure and that I do not have the disease.  This is confusing because I was under the impression at least for herpes that the IGG indicated antibody presence which meant you have the infection and the IGM indicated exposure. Do I have CMV according to these results. Should I retest? Could my symptoms have been caused by CMV? If I have it what does that mean? Am I contagious? If so, what does it mean for my sex life? Do I have to tell anyone I date since it can be transmitted through kissing?  I read that CMV is a major cause of birth defects.  I get massages from a woman trying to get pregnant. Can I continue to see her? It has been over two months now and I experience very slight burning when I have caffeine or sugar. I also have a slight rash on both my wrists. Are my wrists contagious? Any new thoughts as to what else it could be? I have been putting my life on hold to find out what this is so I don’t  spread whatever I have to anyone. I am in desperate need of your help. I also recently had an eye infection which my eye doctor thought was bacterial. But now I’m worried because I read that CMV can cause blindness.  How would I know it the virus had infected my eye? Sorry for so many questions but I am not getting too much information from my doctor or from the internet.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

It is hard for me to imagine why in the world you were tested for CMV as part of a "full STD work up".  To my knowledge, we have never once done a test for CMV in my STD clinic.

Most adults have been infected with CMV, usually acquired in childhood from other children, although some cases indeed are sexually transmitted.  Your result indicates a distant past infection that could have occurred any time in your life.  It was not acquired during the events you described in your previous thread.  Most initial CMV infections cause no symptoms, and certainly none of the symptoms you described was due to CMV.  CMV can cause birth defects, but even most congenital infections are asymptomatic; severe congenital infection is rare. Finally, you probably are not infectious whether by sex or any other mechanism, with the possible exception if your blood were transfused into somebody.  It means absolutely nothing for your sex life.

You are badly overthinking all this.  You have no STD.  I will have no further comment.

HHH, MD

[Ajay589]

A related discussion, CMV was started.