Study: Virus Transmitted By Kissing Could Cause Infertility

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – You might want to think twice before you kiss someone you don't know very well.

Scientists say they've found an obscure virus linked to infertility and it's spread through kissing.

The Telegraph reports researchers in Italy examined the uteruses of women with the inability to have a child and found that 43-percent of them were infected with HHV-6A, one of the human herpes viruses.

The virus was not found in any of the women whose fertility was normal.

The study was published in the journal PLoS One and described how the women affected with HHV-6A were found to have abnormal levels of cytokines.

Cytokines are signaling proteins that facilitate interactions between cells that play an important role in supporting fertilized eggs and fetal development.

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Researchers say the virus is not typically detectable in the blood or saliva, but it replicates in the salivary glands and therefore could be spread through kissing.