Cytomegalovirus infection in pregnancy with maternal hepatitis, neurological disease and foetal chondrodysplasia punctata

A woman in early pregnancy with active cytomegalovirus infection developed hepatitis, a psychiatric illness, and a prolonged peripheral neuropathy with some evidence of upper motor neurone damage. The foetus delivered at 20 weeks gestation showed evidence of chondrodysplasia punctata (Conradi-Hunermann type). The relationship of the infection to the woman's illness and its possible role in the aetiology of chondrodysplasia punctata are discussed.