A Prospective Study on the Incidence and Significance of Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection

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.

Cytomegalovirus-related congenital nephrotic syndrome with diffuse mesangial sclerosis

“…CMV infection is one of the most common causes of congenital infections in the western countries, with reported incidences varying between 0.15% and 2% [6][7][8]. The clinical presentation of CMV infection in infants may vary from a congenital syndrome to an asymptomatic course.…”

Infection congénitale à Cytomégalovirus (CMV)

“…La prévalence de l'infection congénitale à CMV chez les nouveau-nés est d'environ 1 % [11,26,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]. La définition d'un nouveau-né infecté est fondée sur la mise en évidence du virus ou de son génome dans les urines.…”

Prevalence of Cytomegalovirus IgG and IgM Antibodies in the Sera of Postpartum Women and Cord Sera of Newborn Babies and Their Correlation with Socioeconomic Status

“…During pregnan cy, the placenta and the fetus may be affected by primary and reactive infections [9][10][11][12][13], CMV infections are of great importance since they cause intrauterine fetal death and major organ anomalies [14,15].…”