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Cytomegalovirus shedding from breastmilk and mucosal sites in healthy postpartum women: A pilot study
Author(s) -
Azenkot Tali,
Zaniello Benjamin,
Green Margaret L.,
Selke Stacy,
Huang Meeili,
Magaret Amalia,
Wald Anna,
Johnston Christine
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.25386
Subject(s) - cytomegalovirus , saliva , medicine , vagina , viral shedding , postpartum period , obstetrics , transmission (telecommunications) , sex organ , pregnancy , virus , virology , herpesviridae , viral disease , biology , surgery , electrical engineering , genetics , engineering
Mother‐to‐child cytomegalovirus (CMV) breastmilk transmission can occur in the postnatal period. In a pilot study, we measured daily CMV detection by polymerase chain reaction in breastmilk, vaginal, and saliva samples from nine healthy CMV‐seropositive postpartum women for 28 days. CMV was found in seven of nine women and 171 of 253 breastmilk samples (67.6%). In four women, all breastmilk samples were positive. CMV was less frequently detected in the vagina (39 of 258, 15.1%) and saliva (53 of 258, 20.5%). Daily breastmilk, oral, and genital collection is feasible and demonstrates high variability between women. Further study of the dynamics of CMV in distinct anatomic compartments is warranted.