Knowledge and awareness of congenital cytomegalovirus among women

Abstract

Background: Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a leading cause of disabilities in children, yet the general public appears to have little awareness of CMV.

Methods: Women were surveyed about newborn infections at 7 different geographic locations.

Results: Of the 643 women surveyed, 142 (22%) had heard of congenital CMV. Awareness increased with increasing levels of education (P<.0001). Women who had worked as a healthcare professional had a higher prevalence of awareness of CMV than had other women (56% versus 16%, P <.0001). Women who were aware of CMV were most likely to have heard about it from a healthcare provider (54%), but most could not correctly identify modes of CMV transmission or prevention. Among common causes of birth defects and childhood illnesses, women's awareness of CMV ranked last.

Conclusion: Despite its large public health burden, few women had heard of congenital CMV, and even fewer were aware of prevention strategies.

Figure 1

(a) Awareness of congenital CMV and other birth defects and childhood illnesses. (b) Estimates of the annual burden of prominent childhood diseases and syndromes in the US (from [7]). Assumes 4 million live births per year and 20 million children <5 years of age. Childhood deaths were defined as those occurring <1 year after birth except for Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) (<5 years) and HIV/AIDS (<13 years). Where applicable, numbers represent means of published estimates. All estimates should be considered useful for rough comparisons only since surveillance methodology and diagnostic accuracy varied over different studies. CMV: cytomegalovirus; Toxo: toxoplasmosis; CRS: congenital rubella syndrome; GBS: group B strep; FAS: fetal alcohol syndrome; SIDS: sudden infant death syndrome; N/A: not applicable because long-term sequelae are not normally associated with the condition; ID: insufficient data.

Figure 2

Hygienic practices to reduce risk of CMV infection for women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant. When interacting with young children, women should assume the children are excreting CMV in their urine and saliva (from [7]).