Transmission of cytomegalovirus among infants in hospital documented by restriction-endonuclease-digestion analyses

Abstract

Over a 4-month period, 8 infants in an intensive-care unit were identified as excreting cytomegalovirus (CMV) in their urine. 7 of the 8 viral isolates were analysed by means of restriction-endonuclease-digestion analyses for molecular relatedness. CMV isolates from 3 babies had identical DNA-fragment migration patterns, indicating that all 3 babies were infected with the same strain of CMV. Epidemiological data indicate that CMV was transmitted from 1 infant to the other 2 babies through unidentified fomites within the nursery.