Congenital cytomegalovirus: the invisible problem

Abstract

It is a great pleasure mixed with some sadness to write this editorial. The entire November issue is around the subject of congenital infection, with the focus on the most common, serious cause of congenital malformation in Australia – congenital cytomegalovirus. Infection with cytomegalovirus (CMV) causes serious disease in children globally, resulting in congenital infections present in ~2000 Australian newborns every year, of whom most are asymptomatic, with ~450 per annum (pa) affected by hearing loss, mental disability and other illnesses. Some of the key clinical features of congenital infection are outlined here in articles by Wendy van Zuylen, Klaus Hamprecht and Robert George, and the pathogenetic features in Lenore Pereira’s paper. Treatment and vaccination are moving ahead (as discussed in papers from some key Italian groups), although not fast enough for many of us – as parents of children with CMV discuss in two papers here. We also include papers on other causes of congenital infection that are much less common than congenital CMV in Australia. Although these are not related to congenital CMV clinically, with very different medical and epidemiological settings, it is important to put congenital CMV in context, as well as to draw attention to other important causes of congenital infection.