Illnesses during the first two years of life and their association with perinatal cytomegalovirus infection.

In order to find out whether perinatal cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection causes clinical symptoms or signs or influences the general morbidity of a child, a prospective study was performed on 147 children during their first year of life. 48 infants were infected with CMV perinatally. Reports of clinical infections during the second year were available from a total of 108 infants, and serum samples for viral antibody screening at the age 24 months from 111. No specific symptoms or signs could be attributed to perinatal CMV infection. None of the symptoms previously described in connection with CMV infection in childhood were observed. Urinary tract infections were, however, noticed in the group of perinatally infected children. Judging from the prevalence of illnesses and the frequency of elevated antibody titres against different agents, perinatal CMV infection does not seem to influence the general morbidity of a child. In general, the frequency and distribution of illnesses were the same as previously reported by Finnish authors. Breast-feeding did not protect against infection. The children of CMV seronegative mothers were not resistant to other infections, although all of them escaped perinatal CMV infection.