SEVERE neonatal cytomegalic inclusion disease (CID) has been attributed to early intrauterine infection of a fetus with cytomegalovirus.1 In earlier studies, this virus has been isolated from both the child with CID and the mother after delivery.2 This report concerns the frequency of cytomegalovirus infection in women during pregnancy and a study of six children born to women excreting a cytomegalovirus in their urine during pregnancy.
Materials and Methods
Specimens of urine were obtained from 185 women on their first prenatal visit to the obstetrical outpatient clinic of the Grady Memorial Hospital between August and November 1963. A majority of the women were Negro, and most, though not all, were in a low socioeconomic group.Urines, collected in sterile containers with the assistance of a public health nurse, were refrigerated. After quantitative bacterial culture was performed as part of another study,3 a portion of the urine was