Cytomegalovirus
All SPAR semen specimens are tested for CMV.
CMV can infect mother and baby and has become a growing concern in risk for newborns.
The CDC has reported that CMV is the most common infectious cause of birth defects in the United States. (2024 CDC Report)
CMV is a common herpes virus that causes a minor disease in children and adults, but can also infect fetuses in utero. Since 2007, it’s been known that it causes permanent problems in 1 out of 750 children born in the U.S. Mayo Clinic info page
See below for Bedford’s CMV data coming out of SPAR patient tests.
Bedford Research Foundation 2024 CMV Report
2024: Latest CMV Data Suggests an Urgent Need for Better Understanding for Semen in IVF
August 2024, Bedford’s latest CMV (cytomegalovirus) data published in the European Society of Medicine Journal, found that of 453 semen specimens from HIV-infected men that were tested for HIV and cytomegalovirus (CMV) more specimens tested positive for CMV (136, 30%) than for HIV (52, 11%). Fifty two men (33%) had at least one CMV-positive specimen, 38 men (24%) had at least one HIV-positive specimen, and 16 men (11%) had at least one specimen test positive for both HIV and CMV. This data backs up the growing concern that virus shedding into semen is in urgent need of better understanding to avoid the risks associated with new infections early in pregnancy.
Bedford Research Foundation 2014 CMV Report
2014: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is more common in semen than generally thought, according to a new study by Bedford Research Foundation scientists.
In the February 2014 issue of Fertility and Sterility, the official journal of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), Bedford Research scientists reported two surprising findings: First, nearly half (45%) of the semen specimens from 68 men without and with HIV co-infection had detectable CMV, including specimens from two men who initially tested negative for antibody against CMV in their blood. Second, men with even mild suppression of their immune system were twice as likely (57%) to have CMV in their semen as men with normal immunity (28%).