Cytomegalovirus Injection of the Female Genital Tract

Abstract

Infections of the female genital tract may play an important role in intrauterine or neonatal cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections. Serum, urine (U) and cervical swab specimens (CSS) were obtained from 71 unselected pregnant Navajo women in Fort Defiance Indian Hospital, and 125 women of the prenatal clinic of Magee-Women's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Cord blood and urine specimens were Defiance during the same period that the mothers were studied. CMV was recovered from 9/64 CSS of Navajo women (14%) and from 3 of 68 (4.4%) U. Virus was recovered from 5 of 112 (4.5%) CSS women in Pittsburgh and from 3 of 104 (2.9%) U. Recovery of CMV was more frequent from primigravidas (7/62 CSS; 4/57 U); 43 CSS and 41 U from women who had had more than 4 pregnancies were negative. CMV was recovered from 2% of CSS taken in the first trimester, 7% of those taken in the second trimester and 12% of the third trimester specimens from the combined population. None of the 66 urine specimens obtained from newborn infants was positive. Herpes virus was not recovered. These data revealed a surprisingly high frequency of cytomegalovirus infection of the cervix and although the differences were not statistically significant (presumably due to the small numbers studied) they suggest the possibility that infection was more frequent in young women, in primigravidas, and late in pregnancy. (Supported in part by NIH grant HD 02135.)

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