Prevalence of cytomegalovirus in France.

Between October 1968 and February 1970, 30 strains of cytomegalovirus were isolated from the urine of children admitted to hospitals in Lyon. Three groups of children up to the age of 14 years have been investigated.The first group consisted of 304 newborns and infants up to the age of 1 year; cytomegalovirus was grown from five of these (1.6%). Among these five children, two had cerebral disorders. None of them had ever shown any sign of typical CMV infection.The second group comprised 102 children between the ages of 1 and 14 years, from a special service for neurological and mental diseases. Cytomegalovirus was grown from 19 (18.6%).The third group was 27 children also between 1 and 14 years of age, admitted to hospital for miscellaneous diseases excluding cerebral disorders; cytomegalovirus was grown from six (22.2%).It appears that cytomegalovirus has a very low incidence in neonatal disease. The virus spreads at a higher rate in children 1-14 years old. No difference has so far been shown in the excretion rates of two groups of children, one with cerebral disorders and one with other diseases, but the number of children in the last group is too small to allow definite conclusions to be drawn.