The natural history of acquired cytomegalovirus infection among children in group day care
J. R. Murph and J. F. Bale Jr
Divisions of Ambulatory Pediatrics, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City.
We studied the natural history of cytomegalovirus (CMV) excretion among 79
children in a single day-care center over a 2 1/2-year period. During the
study interval, 28 children (35%) excreted CMV in their urine, or saliva,
or both. The CMV acquisition rate among children who were initially culture
negative was 12.6% per year. In such children, CMV excretion began 11 to 59
months after entry into day care. The duration of CMV excretion varied from
3.0 to 28.4 months, with a mean of 13.0 +/- 9.1 months for urine and 7.0
+/- 2.7 months for saliva. The quantity of CMV in saliva or urine was
highest during the first three months of excretion, as high as 10(5) 50%
tissue culture infectious dose per milliliter. Children excreting CMV
entered day care at a younger age (mean, 5.3 +/- 8.5 months for excretors
vs 12.7 +/- 14.8 months for nonexcretors) and spent more hours in day care
per week than the nonexcretors (mean, 41.8 +/- 9.0 h/wk for excretors vs
36.1 +/- 10.9 h/wk for nonexcretors).
