Precautions for Caregivers
Ingestion of infected bodily fluids, including saliva or urine of young children, is a major cause of CMV infection among pregnant women – especially mothers, who may kiss their children on the lips or share food/beverages with them. Studies in childcare settings suggest that as many as 75% of toddler-aged children have cmv in their urine or saliva.
CMV is rarely spread through casual contact (touching skin, hugging), and is not spread through respiratory droplets. People who work with children who attend childcare should use universal standard precautions to protect themselves against CMV, meaning they should wash their hands before eating, and after being in contact with the bodily fluids of a child who attends childcare (e.g. after changin g a diagper or wiping a snotty nose).
Children with congenital CMV pose the same, or even a lower risk of transmitting the virus to another person as any child in daycare. Most children who attend daycare will already have caught CMV, and may be shedding it in their saliva or urine at any time - therefore all children pose a risk of transmitting CMV. Furthermore, many children with congenital CMV will have been treated with antiviral medication, and therefore may have lower viral counts than children who simply caught CMV at daycare.
Children born with congenital CMV should not be discriminated against or excluded from school, daycare, therapy, healthcare or other public settings. Healthcare professionals, childcare providers and therapists who are pregnant or thinking about becoming pregnant should use the same precautions when working with a child with congenital CMV as they would with any child of daycare age. Unless a pregnant person is sharing bodily fluids with a child with CMV (kissing on the lips, sharing straws or food, not washing hands after changing a diaper then eating shortly thereafter) the risk of catching CMV is low.