Molecular epidemiology of cytomegalovirus in a nursery: lack of evidence for nosocomial transmission.

During a 3-year period, cytomegalovirus (CMV) was recovered from the urine of 35 hospitalized newborn infants (15 with congenital and 20 with acquired infections). Two of the infants with acquired infections lacked maternal antibody to CMV (seronegative) and received transfusions from multiple seropositive blood donors. After seronegative blood products were used exclusively for seronegative low birth weight (less than 1300 gm) infants, none of 154 seronegative infants acquired CMV. CMV was recovered from one seronegative nurse who became infected during the study period. EcoRl digestion of the DNA of the nurse's isolate and of 34 of the 35 infant isolates revealed that no two were identical. LBW seropositive infants were randomized to receive either seronegative blood products or blood products from random donors; there was no significant difference in the number of acquired CMV infections. There were no deaths among 18 infants with acquired CMV infection. Hepatosplenomegaly and worsening bronchopulmonary dysplasia developed in one LBW infant. These results prove that nosocomial transmission of CMV did not occur frequently during the 3-year period.