Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a member of the herpes family of viruses that spreads from one person to another through the transfer of body fluids. CMV causes a wide variety of infection and illness in healthy adults, in those with compromised immune systems (such as HIV patients), and in pregnant women who can pass the infection to their unborn child (congenital CMV). It is the most common viral infection in solid organ transplant recipients and is considered a causative factor in certain cancers, inflammatory diseases, and cardiovascular/pulmonary diseases. CMV infects over 95% of people in some developing countries. In the US, 50 – 80% of people become infected with CMV by the time they are 40 years old. CMV is the most common viral infection that infants are born with in the United States. The US Institute of Medicine and US National Vaccine Program offices have ranked CMV with the highest priority in terms of potential healthcare dollar savings and improvement in "quality adjusted life years." Although healthy people usually have few symptoms at the time of initial infection, after infection the virus remains in a latent state in the body for the rest of a person's life. The virus can then be transmitted and cause infection through organ donation, or latent virus can become reactivated and cause symptomatic disease.
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