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New analysis from the College of Minnesota Medical Faculty confirms that testing for congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) at delivery utilizing the routinely collected dried blood spot (DBS) is a dependable and efficient technique to establish newborns in danger for long-term developmental challenges. The findings are revealed in JAMA Community Open.
Congenital CMV is a virus handed to infants within the womb and happens in about 1 in 200 infants. About 20% of infants with cCMV an infection have delivery defects or different long-term well being issues.
The findings display that the PCR-based take a look at carried out on dried blood spots—already collected throughout routine new child screening—is simply as helpful in figuring out these infants who want follow-up for his or her congenital CMV an infection as different extra cumbersome and time-consuming checks that use urine or saliva. That is important as a result of it avoids the added time, increased prices, and potential stress for households that include accumulating different forms of samples from newborns.
The DBS technique detects over 90% of symptomatic CMV instances, successfully figuring out the infants most in want of early interventions and ongoing developmental monitoring.
“Babies born with CMV infection, more often than not, do just fine. However, enough infants experience complications—such as hearing loss and developmental delay—that there has long been debate about screening all newborns,” stated Mark Schleiss, MD, a professor on the College of Minnesota Medical Faculty and a pediatrician with M Well being Fairview.
“This study confirms the wisdom of universal testing, and it’s a testament to the power of parental advocacy, which led to the passage of the Vivian Act and the adoption of statewide screening.”
In 2023, Minnesota grew to become the primary state to display all newborns for cCMV. Analysis by Schleiss and his group on the College of Minnesota Medical Faculty was a catalyst in bringing this concept to hospitals throughout the state.
“These findings define a new path forward and a new approach to newborn care, but improvements can be made,” Dr. Schleiss stated. “We have a test that has over 90% predictive ability to find those CMV babies that need extra help—let’s improve the test and aim for 100% accuracy.”
Extra info:
Mark R. Schleiss et al, Dried Blood Spot PCR for Detection of Congenital Cytomegalovirus An infection and Illness, JAMA Community Open (2025). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.29837
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College of Minnesota Medical Faculty
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Dried blood spot take a look at reliably detects congenital cytomegalovirus at delivery, research finds (2025, September 24)
retrieved 24 September 2025
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