The Outcome of Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection in Relation to Maternal Antibody Status

CONGENITAL cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is the most common intrauterine infection, affecting from 0.4 to 2.3 percent of live-born infants. 1 , 2 In the United States it has been estimated that 1 percent of newborns are infected prenatally with CMV; this rate is equivalent to approximately 40,000 new cases each year. Although over 90 percent of infants infected with CMV are free of symptoms at birth, sensorineural hearing loss, chorioretinitis, mental retardation, and neurologic deficits subsequently develop in 5 to 17 percent of newborns with asymptomatic CMV infection. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 More frequent and more severe sequelae occur in infants with symptomatic infection; nearly 90 percent . . .