Abstract

Background: Difficulties during interpretation of serological tests carried out to detect Cytomegaly in pregnant patients and difficulties in evaluating intrauterine transmission of the infection to a foetus is the reason for use of the Polimerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for Cytomegaly Virus (CMV) detection. To evaluate the dependence between CMV presence intensification and a neonate’s well being, the quantitative PCR (QPCR) method was applied.Material and Methods: The samples of amniotic fluid from 128 patients were examined for the presence of CMV. Pregnancy duration and premature parturition frequency were analysed. Neonates’ condition, birth weight and hypotrophy occurrence frequency were defined. The frequency of occurrence of hepatomegaly, thrombocytopenia, pneumonia, hiperbilirubinemia, brain ventricle broadening and intracranial calcification were evaluated, as well as their dependence to the amount of the CMV genetic material found in amniotic fluid.Results: The presence of the CMV genome in amniotic fluid was confirmed in 35.5% of the patients. Between 2 900 and 1 000 000 virus genome copies in 1 ml of amniotic fluid were found. Average duration of gestation in the study group was 34.3 weeks. A high percentage of premature births (66%) amongst patients with CMV genetic material in amniotic fluid was revealed. There was no dependence found between the number of CMV genome copies in amniotic fluid and pregnancy duration or premature parturition or congenital cytomegaly symptoms occurrence.Conclusions: The high number of diagnosed viral transmissions from mothers to a foetuses in the pathological pregnancies and the frequency of premature parturitions in CMV infected group indicate the need for prenatal diagnosis of CMV.

Keywords: cytomegalovirus infection, newborn, Polymerase Chain Reaction