Inability to confirm the diagnosis of congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection beyond the neonatal period has precluded comprehensive definition of the burden of illness and diagnosis in the individual patient. Following reports of detection of CMV-DNA by PCR in serum of congenitally infected infants and successful extraction of CMV-DNA from dried blood spots (DBS), we submitted DBS from 3 infants referred for possible congenital CMV infection.Aim: To examine the use of CMV-DNA extraction from DBS in confirming retrospectively congenital infection. Methods: DBS on Guthrie cards(taken on day 3 of life) of 3 infants, 2 of whom had suspected congenital CMV infection, were retrieved and tested for CMV by DNA-PCR, using published methods (Clin Diagn Virol 1996;6:27). Results: Urine cultures for CMV, taken initially at referral, were positive in all patients. Clinical and laboratory findings are summarized in the table. Patients 1+2 developed hearing loss on follow-up. Conclusions: Results are encouraging and demonstrate the feasibility of this methodology. Further studies are needed to determine its sensitivity and specificity.

Table 1 No caption available.
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