What is congenital CMV disease?

Through conversations with parents and families of children born with CMV, it is clear that we need to increase knowledge about this virus. On this page you will find all the important information about congenital CMV. Click on the tabs to read more.

  • Testimony of parents

    Parents will appreciate having a foundation that can provide appropriate information about congenital CMV. This way, parents are reminded that they are not alone in this journey.

  • Testimony of parents

    It is important that there is more attention to CMV so that developing a treatment also becomes more important.

  • Testimony of parents

    My child may have CMV, but she is not CMV. They should be treated no differently than their peers. That is why it is important that more people know about CMV.

  • In congenital CMV disease, a baby is infected with the CMV virus. This happens during pregnancy or shortly after birth. The virus is common but does not make most children sick.

    About 40% of the Dutch population carry the CMV virus, usually without this being noticed. Sometimes it causes fatigue, muscle pain, mild fever or a general feeling of sickness - symptoms that can also occur during a normal pregnancy. So a pregnant woman often does not know she has a CMV infection herself.

  • In the Netherlands, 1 in 100 pregnant women becomes infected with CMV. About 40% of these women pass CMV to their baby. Every year, 1,000 babies are born with congenital CMV disease. That is 1 in 250 children.

  • In 90% of babies with congenital CMV disease, there are no or mild symptoms. But 1 in 8 children do develop symptoms, sometimes at birth, sometimes later. Examples:

    - Impaired hearing or deafness

    - Developmental delay

    - Difficulty learning, behavioral problems

    - Epilepsy

    - Poor vision

    - Muscle problems or spasticity

    Most children have a normal life expectancy. Only children with severe symptoms live shorter lives.

  • The virus can reach the unborn child through the placenta.

    - If the mother is infected in the first three months of pregnancy, there is about a 30% chance that the baby will also be infected.

    - With infection in the last three months, this rises to about 70%.

  • The CMV virus may affect the child's brain. The baby's body can also react by making the liver and spleen work extra hard, which can lead to a swollen belly. Early infection in pregnancy increases the likelihood of symptoms in the baby.

    Sometimes the virus does not hit the child itself, but it damages the placenta. This can reduce the blood supply to the child, which can cause the baby to grow less well and have a low birth weight.