Congenital cytomegalovirus disease--20 years is long enough.

Abstract

Despite numerous reports in the medical literature, physicians do not seem to recognize the enormousness of the problems caused by congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease. In 1971, Weller published a landmark article in the Journal that outlined the scope of the problem in the United States and stressed its importance to the public health.1 In the ensuing 20 years an estimated 800,000 infants in the United States have been infected with CMV in utero. More than 50,000 of these infants were born with symptomatic disease. Many have died, and almost all the survivors are severely handicapped by mental retardation, blindness, and . . .