A New Cytomegalovirus Syndrome?

There have been several observations, some unpublished, of acquired cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in small infants associated with pneumonitis and respiratory distress. These reports have received little attention because of the high frequency of inapparent CMV infection and the relative infrequency of confirmed disease acquired in early infancy.

In this issue of the Journal (p 482), Ballard and her co-workers at the Mount Zion Hospital in San Francisco report an experience that began in July 1975, when they discovered three infants with CMV in their neonatal intensive care nursery. This led to a weekly survey of infants who had been in the nursery for more than 28 days. These findings are worthy of note. They isolated CMV from 16 of the 51 infants, an astounding 31.3%! To add to the interest, they found that 14 of the 16 virus-positive infants had symptoms that were remarkably similar. These included an unusual gray