BACKGROUND: Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is the leading infectious cause of neurologic disabilities and sensorineural hearing loss in children. Sensorineural hearing loss prevalence in CMV suggests a viral tropism for the inner ear. Vestibular disorders induced by CMV infection are underestimated. This is the largest and most thorough study to assess the incidence of vestibular di...

BACKGROUND Dried blood spots (DBS) may be valuable in the diagnosis of congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. However, the 2007 European Quality Control for Molecular Diagnostics (QCMD) proficiency testing programme showed that CMV DNA detection in DBS was lacking sensitivity in a considerable number of participating laboratories. OBJECTIVE To compare DNA extraction methods for DBS for d...

Continued but slow progress has led to recent advances in our understanding that congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection has occurred. We understand that the most severe congenital disease occurs following a primary maternal infection during pregnancy. We now have the ability to accurately diagnosis a primary maternal infection using serologic studies of single serum sample. For pregnant wom...

In recent years, the results of some studies have revealed the possible potential role of several infectious agents in the inflammatory mechanism of atherosclerosis. The detection of specific antibodies against microorganisms such as and as well as Chlamydia pneumoniae and cytomegalovirus as well as antibodies directed to heat shock proteins in the sera of atherosclerotic patients and the prese...

Vertical transmission of viruses in breast milk can expose neonates to infectious pathogens at a time when the capacity of their immune system to control infections is limited. We developed a mouse model to study the outcomes of acquisition of murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) when neonates are breastfed by mothers with acute or latent infection. Breast milk leukocytes collected from lactating mice...

BACKGROUND The metabolic syndrome together with insulin resistance and their consequences are basic factors in pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Chronic infections with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), cytomegalovirus (CMV), and Chlamydia pneumoniae are associated with the development of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease. The infectious aspects of metabolic syndrome have not been in...

CD14(+) monocytes are a reservoir for latent human cytomegalovirus, and virus replication is reactivated during their differentiation to macrophages or dendritic cells. It has not been clear whether the virus can establish latency upon direct infection of monocytes or whether it must first become quiescent in a progenitor cell that subsequently differentiates to generate a monocyte. We report t...

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in developed countries. The cause is multifactorial. A substantial proportion of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) do not have traditional risk factors. Infectious diseases may play a role in these cases, or they may intensify the effect of other risk factors. The association of CAD and Chlamydia pneumoniae infection is firmly estab...

Longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis (LETM) associated with cytomegalovirus infection is extremely rare and is, mainly observed in immunocompetent people. A 55-year-old woman no evidence of immunosuppression was admitted paresthesia the lower limbs for 15 days, difficulty walking, fecal incontinence, acute urinary retention. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T2 sequence showed signs hype...

Scaffolding proteins of spherical prokaryotic and eukaryotic viruses have critical roles in capsid assembly. The primary scaffolding components of cytomegalovirus, called the assembly protein precursor (pAP, pUL80.5) and the maturational protease precursor (pPR, pUL80a), contain two nuclear localization sequences (NLS1 and NLS2), at least one of which is required in coexpression experiments to ...