CMV- come in if you are very familiar with it.

theLeenie

I woke in a severe to profound special ed population as a speech therapist. Students that are in my wing, including some students that I possibly work with, have disabilities because of their mother being infected with cmv during pregnancy.

I don't know if any of them are actively shedding the virus or not. Due to lack of information in their medical records and people being really unaware of cmv, its been hard to really know who I need to stay away from or not. Its also possible for other seemingly healthy students and staff whose disabilities are not from the virus to come down with a cmv infection and show no outward signs of it. Keep in mind that some of my students cannot control their drool and are also known to stick there hands in every dirty place imaginable... and most of them have issues with personal boundaries.

I've gotten mixed answers from the nurses at the school, administration who have talked to doctors about this, my doctors, regarding how contagious it is, how it can be spread, etc. I've researched many pages of google searches on every possible topic related to cmv, so what I really want to know is if you have personally talked to your doctor, if you are in a situation similar to mine, or if you are well educated in cmv, how this applies to me. I've also been tested and I am the 40 to 50 percent hat does not have antibodies for it.

Basically I want to know what doctors say are the main ways CMV is spread from person to person....Ive heard only intercourse from one person...which I think is TOTALLY wrong and is more saliva and body fluid, how contagious the virus really is, how long the virus can last on a surface, if I turn into an OCD preggo lady and take universal precautions to the extreme and wash my hands constantly, keep my hands away from my face, and wear gloves during the day, is that enough to stay safe? And etc... Thanks fellow march mommies!!

jahjbmr

I don't know much about CMV. But I'm a speech therapist too!!! So just wanted to say hey!

How many minutes are you in contact with them during the day?

theLeenie

Hey! The kids who have disabilities because of a cmv infection..I see one of them on a consultative basis but I'm in the class seeing other students while they are in there. There are 4 known kids in my wing who have disabilities because of it and I'm sure there are many other students who were born with it but we are unsure because of poor medical records. And cmv is like a regular virus. That's why so many people have antibodies for it. It flies around from kid to kid like as it would in day care or a school!

Abeja1226

I work in a hospital, and am also doing my pediatric clinical rotation, and have a toddler who goes to daycare.  It's mainly spread through contact with bodily fluids, mainly urine like if you are changing a diaper.  Just wash your hands thoroughly before and after you touch anyone or work with anyone, and don't touch you face/mouth/eyes/etc before doing so.  I think you will be fine if you do this, and my OB said to avoid anyone who has this, but acted like if I couldn't, just to take the universal precautions.

There's SO many things that can go wrong, that you can catch from anywhere, etc, that you will drive yourself crazy if you start to obsess and worry over everything.  That's my philosophy working in the hospital. 

theLeenie

Abeja1226:

I work in a hospital, and am also doing my pediatric clinical rotation, and have a toddler who goes to daycare.nbsp; It's mainly spread through contact with bodily fluids, mainly urine like if you are changing a diaper.nbsp; Just wash your hands thoroughly before and after you touch anyone or work with anyone, and don't touch you face/mouth/eyes/etc before doing so.nbsp; I think you will be fine if you do this, and my OB said to avoid anyone who has this, but acted like if I couldn't, just to take the universal precautions.
There's SO many things that can go wrong, that you can catch from anywhere, etc, that you will drive yourself crazy if you start to obsess and worry over everything.nbsp; That's my philosophy working in the hospital.nbsp;

Thanks!

lynn3yb00

I work in the health care field and was told to try to avoid anyone with CMV as much as possible while pregnant because pregnancy makes you more susceptable to CMV. You are correct about it spreading through bodily fluids.

To answer your question about how long it survives on a surface- it's a relativly weak virus (outside of the body) and doesn't survive long, and is easily killed with regular disinfection techniques (i.e. lysol wipes).

For you, I'd up the hand washing, keep your hands away from your face, and use gloves when you need to do anything where you're in contact with bodily fluids (only as long as necessary), and be sure the areas you're around get disinfected daily (and especially after they come in contact with bodily fluids). I also reccomend watching this video on how to properly remove gloves (unless you've already been taught how).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iyeIu8M3aQ

Abeja1226

theLeenie:

Abeja1226:

I work in a hospital, and am also doing my pediatric clinical rotation, and have a toddler who goes to daycare.nbsp; It's mainly spread through contact with bodily fluids, mainly urine like if you are changing a diaper.nbsp; Just wash your hands thoroughly before and after you touch anyone or work with anyone, and don't touch you face/mouth/eyes/etc before doing so.nbsp; I think you will be fine if you do this, and my OB said to avoid anyone who has this, but acted like if I couldn't, just to take the universal precautions. There's SO many things that can go wrong, that you can catch from anywhere, etc, that you will drive yourself crazy if you start to obsess and worry over everything.nbsp; That's my philosophy working in the hospital.nbsp;

Thanks!

Your welcome!  And don't share your toothbrush with kids, haha not that you will.  I'm currently letting my daughter use my toothbrush sometimes because it's electric and she likes it so I should probably stop doing that...

 

theLeenie

lynn3yb00:

I work in the health care field and was told to try to avoid anyone with CMV as much as possible while pregnant because pregnancy makes you more susceptable to CMV. You are correct about it spreading through bodily fluids.
To answer your question about how long it survives on a surface it's a relativly weak virus outside of the body and doesn't survive long, and is easily killed with regular disinfection techniques i.e. lysol wipes.
For you, I'd up the hand washing, keep your hands away from your face, and use gloves when you need to do anything where you're in contact with bodily fluids only as long as necessary, and be sure the areas you're around get disinfected daily and especially after they come in contact with bodily fluids. I also reccomend watchingnbsp;this video on how to properly remove gloves unless you've already been taught how.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iyeIu8M3aQ

Thank you!

theLeenie

Abeja1226:

theLeenie:

Abeja1226:

I work in a hospital, and am also doing my pediatric clinical rotation, and have a toddler who goes to daycare.nbsp; It's mainly spread through contact with bodily fluids, mainly urine like if you are changing a diaper.nbsp; Just wash your hands thoroughly before and after you touch anyone or work with anyone, and don't touch you face/mouth/eyes/etc before doing so.nbsp; I think you will be fine if you do this, and my OB said to avoid anyone who has this, but acted like if I couldn't, just to take the universal precautions. There's SO many things that can go wrong, that you can catch from anywhere, etc, that you will drive yourself crazy if you start to obsess and worry over everything.nbsp; That's my philosophy working in the hospital.nbsp;

Thanks!

Your welcome!  And don't share your toothbrush with kids, haha not that you will.  I'm currently letting my daughter use my toothbrush sometimes because it's electric and she likes it so I should probably stop doing that...

 

Haha. :

emriley84

I was worried about this with my last pregnancy, and we had a few babies with active CMV in the NICU I worked in. I didn't care for these patients while pregnant, but just use standard precautions, wash your hands well.

Linzee498

This same experience happened to me recently!  One of my EI kids might have congenital CMV and mom is waiting on bloodwork to confirm.  My office had me call my Doc and they said its transmitted through intercourse and saliva.  I did not go near his saliva, but to be on the safe side my office pulled me from his case.  Also, my Dr office said they would/could test me for immunities (which I prob have since I am around so many drooling toddlers) and they would refer me to Maternal Fetal Medicine for monitoring if I did have exposure to it.  I would personally not risk it.