Efficacy of the Condom as a Barrier to the Transmission of Cytomegalovirus

An attempt was made to determine whether the transmission of cytomegalovirus (CMV) was inhibited by condoms in vitro. 5 different types of latex condoms were used: Sheik with a receptacle end; Sheik without a receptacle end; Troj-enz; unlubricated Trojans; and ribbed Trojans. The strain of CMV used was AD-169. CMV was recovered in all cultures taken from the inner condoms except for the 2nd trial in the 2nd set of experiments in which the specimen was toxic in tissue culture. No virus was recovered from any of the outer condoms. These results were consistent in both sets of experiments. Control cultures of the CMV inoculum were consistently positive whereas cultures of the minimal essential medium (MEM) containing 10% fetal calf serum were consistently negative. The study results suggest that condoms might effectively block the sexual transmission of CMV. Even after applying trauma simulating sexual intercourse no virus leaked from the inner condom. Since CMV was successfully cultured from within the inner condom in all but 1 test the condom itself did not completely inactivate the virus even after 60 minutes of incubation. The efficacy of the condom as a barrier to other infectious agents has been documented. Strong evidence exists suggesting that CMV infections are sexually transmitted and that semen is the major vector in such transmission. Although the experimental procedure used in this investigation does not fully reproduce the act of sexual intercourse the similarity is sufficient to make it an acceptable simulation for an in-vitro model. Since no virus penetrated the inner condoms it seems that the condom does block the transmission of CMV and may be an effective method for preventing sexual transmission of CMV via semen.