Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the most common congenital infection (cCMV) and is diagnosed if the virus is isolated in the first 3 weeks of life. This article focuses on possible strategies to minimize CMV transmission and disease in this vulnerable group by focusing on prevention and preemptive therapy. It is challenging to differentiate between congenital and postnatal infection (pCMV) if the virus is detected after this time point. Usually, very premature (gestational age <32 weeks) or very low birth weight (VLBW, <1500g) infants are susceptible to developing symptomatic illness after the acquisition of CMV in the postnatal period.
Retrospective diagnosis of cCMV requires the identification of the virus on the dried blood spot, a method which has been shown to be insensitive. Additionally, there are no internationally accepted definitions for symptomatic pCMV. Various clinical signs and…
