Preventable
CMV is preventable.
The best way to reduce your risk of CMV infection is to maintain healthy habits while pregnant.
Contact with the saliva (drool) or urine (pee) of a young child is a common cause of CMV infection in pregnant women. If a woman is infected with CMV while she is pregnant or if an earlier infection becomes active again, her developing baby can be infected too.
CMV can survive on objects,
such as hands, faces, toys, pacifiers, teething rings, food, plates, cups, straws, forks, spoons, and knives
long enough to be transmitted between people by touching surfaces.
Women who are pregnant or are planning to become pregnant should practice the following healthy pregnancy tips to avoid catching CMV:
Wash Your Hands
Washing your hands often and properly is one of the best ways you can prevent the spread of germs.
Wet your hands with clean water.
Lather your hands with soap.
Scrub your hands being sure to get between your fingers for at least 20 seconds.
Rinse your hands with clean water.
Dry your hands with a disposable hand towel.
Wash your hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds, especially after the following activities:
Wiping a young child’s nose or drool
Changing diapers
Feeding a young child
Handling children’s toys
If water is not available, use hand sanitizer until you can wash your hands with soap.
Give big hugs and kisses on the forehead or top of the head
Baby faces are often covered in saliva (drool), tears, and mucus (snot). Giving big hugs and kisses on the forehead or top of the head will help you to avoid contacting CMV.
Clean and disinfect surfaces regularly
Cleaning with soap and water is effective at eliminating CMV from surfaces.
Surfaces include table tops and trays, plates, cups, forks and spoons, toys and other objects that may have been drooled on.
Eat only your own food and drink
There is really no safe way to eat the same food or drink from the same container as someone else without a risk of getting their germs, such as CMV. Because of this, it is best that you do not share food, or drink out of the same container as someone else, even if you both feel healthy.
Instead, cut the food into serving sizes and pour the drink into smaller cups, or just enjoy separate food and drink items.
Since CMV can be easily spread through food, it is best to avoid sharing food, like a bowl of popcorn, that are touched by others. Another great way to share treats without transferring CMV is by sharing foods that are individually wrapped.
Eat only from your own plate & drink only from your own cup
Saliva (drool) may remain on plates, cups, or cutlery (forks, spoons, knives and straws using for eating or drinking) and could transfer a CMV infection to you and your developing baby. Although it may be easier to feed your child from your own plate or you do not want to waste leftover food from your child’s plate, it is best not to share food or cutlery while you are pregnant.
Use only your own toothbrush
Sharing objects that have been in someone else’s mouth, like toothbrushes, could transfer a CMV infection to you and your developing baby. Store your toothbrush in an area that other children cannot reach.
