Screening for Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection in Newborns

Our central hypothesis is that screening newborn infants who either fail their newborn hearing test or have a diagnosis of small for gestational age (SGA) will lead to better identification of infants with congenital CMV infection and enhanced rates of therapeutic intervention. This has the potential to significantly improve outcomes for infants with this common viral infection. This particular cohort of patients have not been well studied locally or regionally. In addition, in view of current legislation that will be effective in January, 2016 this is a timely project that will provide preliminary data for future statewide recommendations around CMV testing of newborn infants. This will be a pilot/feasibility study to obtain preliminary data for an Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) Title V grant. Although not guaranteed, preliminary discussions with the IDPH are highly encouraging giving the statewide interest in this topic.