Diagnosis of Maternal and Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection

Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) is one of the eight viruses belonging to the Herpesviridae family to infect humans. CMV belongs to the Betaherpesvirinae subfamily of viruses characterized by a restricted host spectrum, in vitro replication in fibroblasts of the natural host species in vivo, a slow replication cycle, the induction of intranuclear and intracytoplasmic inclusions and the ability to induce latency mainly in the myeloid cell linage. Although rarely pathogenic in immunocompetent individuals, the virus poses a significant health threat to immunocompromised individuals. CMV is an important post-transplant pathogen as between 50% and 100% allograft recipients (depending on serological status of donor/recipient and type of immunosuppression) develop CMV infection. Congenital CMV infection is the leading cause of congenital virus infection in developed countries, occurring in 0.3–2.4% (mean value 1%) of all live births depending on the seroprevalence of the population examined. Intrauterine primary infections are second only to Down’s syndrome as a known cause of mental retardation.