Stop CMV for Caius

Hi Friends! June is National Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Awareness Month. CMV is the most common infectious cause of birth defects.

Many pregnant women are unwittingly contaminating their unborn babies with CMV which can result in babies being born with disabilities such as epilepsy, cerebral palsy and hearing loss.

It causes more birth defects and childhood deaths than Down’s Syndrome, Toxoplasmosis (from cat poo) or Listeriosis (from soft cheese) - but like many women who contract it, I had no symptoms.

The main way of catching CMV is through person-to-person contact - via bodily fluids such as urine, saliva, blood, faeces, tears, breast milk, semen and cervical secretions.

One in 200 babies are born with congenital CMV, although only one in five of those will experience long-term health problems as a result. These may include hearing loss, vision loss, seizures, developmental delay and microcephaly. In such saddening cases CMV complications could result in still birth and early death. 

Young children are the biggest carriers of CMV. It is believed that I contracted CMV for the first time in the early weeks of my pregnancy through caring for our eldest son, Darian (age 2 at the time). 

You can catch CMV by kissing, sharing eating and drinking utensils, or sharing toys that have been sucked or put into children’s mouths.

You cannot catch CMV by merely being in the same room with someone who is infected.

With no screening or vaccine, organisation CMV Action says the best advice for pregnant mums is to take extra care with simple hygiene rules. They advise not eating your children's food, sharing their cutlery, putting their dummy in your mouth or kissing them on the mouth, and washing your hands after touching anything that may have been in contact their urine or saliva. 

Our extra special baby boy Caius, was diagnosed in May 2019  with Congenital CMV at 1 week old and began antiviral treatment at 2 weeks old. Caius has bilateral  sensorineural hearing loss (deaf in both ears - to different degrees) and calcifications on his brain. He will require additional support and care with his physical and mental development. The predictability of the future is at times unknown, however, we continue to hope. 

It continues to give me a sense of utter helplessness that there is a complete lack of awareness of a virus which can be so completely life altering. There are no signs in the hospital waiting room, paragraphs in the baby groups and no discussions at antenatal classes. There is not even a dedicated charity in Ireland for newly diagnosed families to seek comfort and knowledge from. 

I am using this month of June to focus on generating awareness for CMV for CMV Action UK by running or cycling 150km’s approx 5km per day in one month.

CMV Action is dedicated to promoting awareness, providing access to resources, and sharing prevention information to eliminate congenital CMV. 
 
So lets raise some funds to #StopCMV and to  protect pregnant women from CMV #CMVspeak 

We would be so so grateful for support and any donations made. Thanks so much in advance. 

Together, we can #stopcmv 

Thanks Caius’ Mummy - Stef