What are the clinical features of CMV infection?
Most children and adults have no symptoms from CMV infection and are not harmed by the virus. In some cases CMV infections may present as a mononucleosis-like illness with fever, sore throat, fatigue and lymphadenopathy. The particular time one would like to avoid CMV infection, if possible, is during pregnancy. Newborn infants with CMV infection fall into two categories: those who are asymptomatic and those who are symptomatic. Approximately one in 100 infants is born with CMV infection but appears to be perfectly normal at birth. However, between 10 – 15% of these infants will develop disabilities later that occurred as a result of damage to the central nervous system. These disabilities may include hearing loss, developmental delay, psychomotor retardation and learning problems. Approximately 1 in 1000 babies will be symptomatic at birth. These infants may be born small for gestational age, have hepatosplenomegaly, microcephaly and may suffer neurological deficits such as mental ret
