The problem of congenital cytomegalovirus infection

Abstract

This paper comprises a review of up-to-date literature devoted to the problem of congenital cytomegalovirus infection, its epidemiology and pathogenesis. The paper includes one report on features and variants of clinical presentation of congenital cytomegalovirus infection and its sequelae, including late-onset complications. We pay attention to the problems related to timely diagnostics of congenital infections during pregnancy and suggest measures that can improve the quality of the survey. The basic aspects of laboratorial verification of cytomegalovirus infection in fetus and newborn are reviewed in the light of peculiarities of the features of the newborns’ immune system. In addition, significant points of etiotropic therapy are emphasized. Principal groups of antiviral drugs are delineated in this review, with proposal for their administration according to the clinical course and sequlae development. Furthermore, in this review we pay attention to the importance of preventive measures for reducing prevalence of cytomegalovirus in pregnant women. In view of its high prevalence among adult population and likelihood of recurrent clinical course in pregnant women, we specifically focus on necessity of further professional development of pediatricians and neonatogists. This necessity is determined by the prevalence of latent course of congenital cytomegalovirus infection, as its diagnostics is frequently retarded and, consequently, provokes development of severe complications. In this paper the indispensability of universal neonatal cytomegalovirus screening embedding is proven. Therefore, this review presents contemporary data about the problem of congenital cytomegalovirus infection and highlights general problems related to timely diagnostics and treatment of intrauterine infections.

Keywords

• врожденная инфекция
• внутриутробная инфекция
• цитомегаловирусная инфекция