Lifecare Medical Centre Introduces Blood Test to Diagnose Infectious Diseases ...

The test, which Lifecare Medical Centre offers at Rs 2900, determine if the person has had a recent infection, a past infection, or has never been exposed. Elaborating on the significance of the test, Dr Vinay Goel, Promoter Director & Chairman, Lifecare Medical Centre, says, "These infections can be serious if they occur during pregnancy because they can cross the placenta from the mother to the developing foetus, risking miscarriage, still birth, or a child with congenital defects."

The test is performed before or as soon as pregnancy is diagnosed to determine the mother's history of exposure to these organisms. Dr Goel further informs that Rubella infection during the first 16 weeks of pregnancy poses major risks for the unborn baby. It is difficult for a physician to tell if a person has rubella by their clinical appearance since other infections may look the same. Similarly, Toxoplasma or CMV may have flu-like symptoms that are not easily differentiated from other illnesses. "Antibody testing will help the physician diagnose an infection that may be harmful to the unborn baby," he adds.

The test may also be ordered on the newborn when the infant shows any signs suggestive of these infections, such as exceptionally small size relative to the gestational age, deafness, mental retardation, seizures, heart defects, cataracts, enlarged liver or spleen, low platelet level, or jaundice.

He suggests that even people having pets as well as people flying to the UK and the US must also undergo this test.

Results are usually given as positive or negative, indicating the presence or absence of IgG and IgM antibodies for each of the infectious agents. Presence of IgM antibodies in the newborn indicates high likelihood of infection with that organism. IgM antibodies produced in the mother cannot cross the placenta, so presence of this type of antibody strongly suggests an active infection in the infant. Presence of IgG and absence of IgM antibody in the infant may reflect passive transfer of maternal antibody to the baby and does not indicate active infection in the baby.

Learning To Prevent Cytomegalovirus (CMV) « STD and Herpes ...

Learning To Prevent Cytomegalovirus (CMV)

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a virus, which can be transmitted to the developing fetus before birth. The cytomegalovirus infection usually is not harmful and it rarely triggers diseases. For most of the healthy persons, which contract this virus after birth, there are several symptoms and there are not long term medical consequences. Once a person is infected, the virus is still active, but it is latent during that person's life.

There are different types of infections:

- primary cytomegalovirus

-recurring cytomegalovirus

A primary infection can cause more pregnancy problems than recurring one. Anyway, if the immune system of a person is weak, it can become active and it can cause the cytomegalovirus disease. For most of the persons, suffering from cytomegalovirus there will not be real problems.

As far as symptoms are concerned, most of the children and adults infected with cytomegalovirus do not develop any. However, some of them develop the following symptoms at an interval of 3 to 12 weeks since exposure:

- glands' inflammation

To continue with, cytomegalovirus belongs to the herpes virus group and, as we have already said, it can stick to the body, under latent condition, for a long time. The infection can be carried by body fluids like urine, blood, saliva, tears and breast milk. Cytomegalovirus can exist in these liquids without the possibility to detect its signs and symptoms.

Concerning the frequency of cytomegalovirus, it can emerge in the case of 50 - 85% of the adults over the age of 40 and it is most popular in developed countries. Besides, the risk is increased in the case of the fetus in the uterus, in the case of people who work with children and in the case of people affected by HIV.

Cytomegalovirus is spread from a person to another; therefore, it does not have any connection with water, food or animals. It does not have a great spreading rate, but it has been remarked that it can be spread more rapidly in centers for children. It can be spread by close contact by the infested person, through urine, saliva, breast milk, or other body fluids.

Most of the cytomegalovirus infection cases are rarely diagnosed because the infested persons develop few symptoms. In order to detect the existence of the virus, blood tests and urine analyses are performed, apart from analysis of material taken from the throat or directly from the tissue. Laboratory tests performed in order to cultivate the virus are expensive and not all the countries in the world can afford them.

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