Cytomegalovirus infection in the neonate and its prevention.
About 0.5% of infants are infected in utero with cytomegalovirus (CMV). As many as 20% become mentally retarded and a further substantial proportion suffer lesser degrees of brain damage. The need for a vaccine is greater than in the case of rubella. A live, tissue culture-adapted strain of CMV has been shown to produce neutralizing antibody in volunteers without significant side effects or detectable virus excretion. The problems of developing such a vaccine for use in man, namely, attenuation, antigenic differences among virus strains, reactivation of latent infection and oncogenicity, are briefly discussed.
D000917:Antibody Formation; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology; D014613:Vaccines, Attenuated; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects
D014613:Vaccines, Attenuated; D014765:Viral Vaccines