No abstract

Screening of 3060 neonates for congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection by virus excretion in the urine showed an overall incidence of 0.4%. The incidence was about 1% for mothers between 16 and 25 years and only 0.2% for mothers between 25 and 35. No mothers over 35 years of age gave birth to congenitally infected infants. The percentage of women in the child-bearing age susceptible to CMV infection was estimated by the absence of CMV complement-fixing antibodies in cord sera and ranged from 48% to 33% with increasing age. None of the infected infants showed obvious signs of congenital CMV infection at birth. At follow-up, two infants showed slight, but transient symptoms compatible with a foetal infection; a pair of premature twins exhibited retarded physical and psychomotor development, but this could just as well be ascribed to the prematurity itself. None of the infants had detectable CMV--IgM antibodies in cord sera, but a trend towards elevated total IgM concentration in cord sera and elevated virus excretion titres appeared in the infants with symptoms. With the very low incidence and no signs of sensomotor sequelae the preliminary conclusion is that foetal CMV infection in our population by no means has a significance to deserve screening or a vaccination programme.

Dysspondyloenchondromatosis is a rare form of generalised enchondromatosis with hypoplastic/dysplastic changes in the lower thoracic and upper lumbar spine. The disease presents at birth as neonatal dwarfism and is characterised later in life by marked shortening of stature, unequal length of the extremities and early development of kyphoscoliosis. We report four newborn babies--three boys and a girl--with dysspondyloenchondromatosis, who had skeletal survey performed shortly after birth. The condition can be established in the newborn, as the radiographic examination (skeletal survey) shows diagnostic radiographic findings.