Asymptomatic DNAemia heralds CMV-associated NEC: case report, review, and rationale for preemption.

ABSTRACT: Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection may be acquired in very low birth weight and extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants from breast milk. The clinical relevance of such infections is uncertain. There is no consensus on whether screening breast milk for CMV, freezing/pasteurizing milk before feeding, or performing virological monitoring on at-risk infants is warranted. We describe an ELBW infant who acquired CMV postnatally from breast milk and developed CMV sepsis syndrome and clinical evidence of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) at ≈ 5 weeks of age. The availability of serial dried blood spots from day of life (DOL) 4 to 21, coincidentally obtained for a metabolic study, provided the novel opportunity to retrospectively test for and quantify the magnitude of CMV DNAemia. DNAemia was p

SUBMITTER: Tengsupakul S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3813390 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature