Hi All
My husband had a liver transplant on 28.11.17 and having looked at his medication and read his discharge note it says he has been prescribed Valganciclovir as he has a high risk CMV mismatch.
Having googled it - sounds serious - has anyone else come across this and I am not sure of the implications. His note says it will be reviewed on 07/03.18.
Thanks
Kim
Hello Kimlescam,
You are not alone.
Post transplant my viral levels were high and needed treatment with anti - viral medication. The levels quickly returned to 'normal' and since my March 2016 transplant, I’ve had no problems.
Having already googled cytomegalovirus, you will already know that it is very common.
Almost 50% of the UK population will have already been exposed to the virus. The virus remains dormant and is there for life.
Because of this, the likelihood of either the donor or recipient already having the virus is very high. This means its very difficult to avoid in transplantation. However, as its such a well recognised post transplant issue, and there is treatment available, there is little for you to worry about.
Most will never have any problem post transplant. Obviously, the use of anti rejection medication will increase the risk of the virus becoming 're-activated. This is where the use of the prescribed ant-viral medication deals effectively with this problem.
As he is not going to be reviewed until March 2018, this would suggest that at the moment his transplant team are not unduly concerned. Of course you need to be aware of the signs and symptoms of any problem with the virus. I wont list them here, but I will give you a link to the NHS Choices website which gives up to date and reliable information about the virus and what to watch out for and when to seek medical help.
If at any time you are concerned, either with understanding the CMV virus or experiencing symptoms, remember that your transplant coordinator is always there to give information and support.
I hope he is otherwise well after his transplant and continues to regain full fitness and good health.
Jim
nhs.uk/conditions/cytomegal...
And for general information / support / news of liver health - a link to the British Liver Trust.
Dear Kim,
My husband had CMV with both transplants. The consultant normally adds extra blood tests on and waits for the count to come down to non detectable.
They do use a drip but this is only if tablets do not work.
I did write some posts on CMV if you want to search it on here.
Sending you lots of hugs.
Yours truly,
Pear
Hiya I had my transplant a year ago and since then have had cmv 3 times it's more of an annoyance than anything and is easily treatable 😀
Thanks everyone - much less serious than I feared xx
It is and they give you the tablets first 3 months to reduce your risk of developing cmv I am a strange one because I was taken of them early as they were skewing my bloods up 😁
Hi that's interesting. I was on Valgan for ages and coudn't
get the CMV levels down. My red blood cell count started
to lower drastically to the point I was having blood
transfusions every month or so. Eventually the CMV levels
became undetectable, the Valgan was stopped and blood
returned to normal. It is suspected that the CMV was
difficult to get rid of because of the Hep C I was still infected
with. I said goodbye to the Hep C with a course of
Epclusa last summer.
Liver transplant Oct 2017, on valgancyclovir for 3 months. Easter 2017, feeling ill and shaky, went to A&E, diagnosed with sepsis caused by cmv. Spent months on antivirals trying to reduce cmv level to zero. Discharged and within 2 weeks had sepsis with EColi as the proximate cause. Suffered kidney damage and had sepsis again in Sept 2018 but no more problems with cmv since July 2018.
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