I seriously question the veracity of the information in the Blood brochure.
CMV (cytomegalovirus) is endemic (meaning it's just there, not as a result of medical intervention or external sources of contamination) in as much as 70% of the world's population. I was surprised to learn that through my being a blood donor. A staffer mentioned to me that a select group of blood donors give their blood specifically for premature infants; and when I expressed an interest, she told me that if I was a candidate, I would have been contacted already. The presence of CMV in the blood rules a person out from donating to preemies, because premature infants are especially vulnerable to CMV due to their immature immune system. The same goes for people with compromised immune systems through disease (AIDS) or treatments that suppress immunity like chemotherapy and prednisone. In other words, I have CMV in my blood, and it's not affecting me. I've never had a blood transfusion or received any blood product. I have no idea how it ended up in my system.
CMV is what is known as an opportunistic infection. Normally a person's immune system has the resources to deal with it, but any compromise can result in a flare-up of CMV infection, from the CMV that lurks in their system.
There's no way of knowing at this point whether Pope John Paul II had CMV in his system prior to his being shot in 1981. But it's highly presumptuous for the WTS to speculate and claim that he "got" CMV as a result of a blood transfusion, when it's very likely (a 70% chance) that he had it all along and it became active during his recuperation from a GSW and the subsequent surgery. However, it suits the WTS's position to make that spurious claim, because there's no way of verifying it.
Love, Scully
