|  | Conditions Treatments | Infectious Diseases

Polyomavirus Symptoms

The polyomavirus is a DNA virus, which means that it is primarily made up of DNA. It is one of the few viruses that has the ability to infect both humans and animals and can be a serious health risk for birds. In humans, the disease is effectively combated by the immune system, but can still pose health risks if the person's immune system becomes compromised.

  1. Asymptomatic Infections

    • The vast majority of polyomavirus infections produce no symptoms. This is a virus that is commonly contracted during childhood and goes into a period of dormancy shortly after infection. Although the immune system is never able to completely eliminate the virus, it can usually keep it from causing any symptoms.

    Mild Symptoms

    • When the polyomavirus does cause symptoms, the symptoms are usually very mild. These include a slight fever (under 102 degrees Fahrenheit). A polyoma infection can also cause respiratory symptoms, such as wheezing and a chronic cough.

    Potential

    • Although the polyomavirus does not normally cause any symptoms, it can cause several very serious conditions in people with weakened immune systems. One of these is progressive multifocal encephalopathy, a disorder in which a virus infects the brain. This leads to vision loss, problems with motor control and the deterioration of cognitive skills. It ultimately results in death.

    Considerations

    • The polyomavirus can cause many conditions after an organ transplant. Organ transplants require extreme suppression of the immune system. This can cause a dormant polyomavirus to become reactivated, which can lead to more serious symptoms. The polyomavirus can cause inflammation of the kidneys after a kidney transplant, as well as bleeding from the bladder after a bone marrow transplant.

    Effects

    • Another effect of the polyomavirus is its ability to increase the likelihood of developing certain kinds of cancer, including breast and bladder cancer. This is because the polyomavirus, when it infects a cell, can cause subtle changes to the cell's genes, resulting in it being more likely to become cancerous. While cancer is not a direct symptom of a polyomavirus infection, this virus has been isolated from many different types of cancer.

Infectious Diseases - Related Articles