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what does a + blood test for CMV meean?
Feb 24, 2001
I was recently diagnosised as CMV positive (through bloodwork). My question is, my eye doctor did not detect any problems, buy yet the blood work says "positive". Have we maybe caught this at its earliest stages? What kind of treatment(s) are available? What are my chances of loosing my sight? Thanks for at least reading this.
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Response from Dr. Feinberg

A positive blood test for CMV (technically, a "CMV IgG" test) just means that you have been infected with this virus at some point in the past. It does not mean that you will develop CMV disease in the eye or anywhere else. It does, however, mean that you are susceptible to reactivation of this old infection if your CD4 cells drop to very low levels, usually to less than 50. If you have a good response to treatment for HIV, you are unlikely to ever have your T cells drop to this level. If you have already reached an advanced stage of HIV and have T cells this low, then treatment for HIV and careful monitoring by an eye doctor experienced in CMV retinitis is warranted. Hopefully, you will never develop active CMV disease at all.
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