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Newbie Alert. “CMV, WHAT?!”

OhsunnydayOhsunnyday Posts: 2
in Ask California Cryobank

Hello!
My wife and I are about to purchase our second round of cyro to try and start our family.
“CMV TOTAL ANTIBODY” what is this?!
Any insight is appreciated!

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    britt520britt520 Posts: 14

    CMV is a virus (like chicken pox) that most people catch at some point in their lives and don't really notice (I've heard it's like the flu). The issue is that if you are negative (never had it) and the donor is positive (he had it), then you/baby can catch the virus from the sperm and this is very dangerous for the baby.

    (If you were making a baby through a 'usual' sexual relationship, you would have caught the virus from the guy while together and would not acquire it for the first time while pregnant--which is the dangerous thing)

    For that reason, it's critical that the woman who plans to use the sperm gets tested for CMV antibodies. If she's positive, then she already had the virus and can pick any donor. If she's negative, then she can only safely use a negative donor.

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