The burden of infection with cytomegalovirus in England and Wales: how many women are infected in pregnancy?

SUMMARY A serological survey was used to investigate the epidemiology of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in England and Wales. A total of 5237 sera representing the complete age range were used reflecting the general population. The sera were collected in 1991 and 2002, and screened for CMV-specific IgG by ELISA. Antibody prevalence increased with age from ~15% in those aged 1–4 years to ~80% in those aged ⩾65 years with no association with gender or region. Analysing by common birth cohort demonstrated that between 1991 and 2002 incidence was highest in children born 1985–1989 (1·62% per year, 95% CI 0·86–2·35), lower in older children and younger adults born 1950–1984 (0·75% per year, 95% CI 0·29–1·19) with little evidence of infection in older adults born pre-1950 (0% per year, 95% CI 0–0·64). Application to population and live-birth estimates for England and Wales suggested that between 1991 and 2002, 159 996 (95% CI 67922–278277) CMV infections occurred annually with an annual average of 2133 (95% CI 816–3435) infections affecting pregnant females.

[1]  P. Griffiths,et al.  Encouraging prospects for immunisation against primary cytomegalovirus infection. , 2001, Vaccine.

[2]  W. Flanders,et al.  Seroprevalence of cytomegalovirus infection in the United States, 1988-1994. , 2006, Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

[3]  A. Ades,et al.  Early acquisition of cytomegalovirus infection. , 1987, Archives of disease in childhood.

[4]  M Rush,et al.  Age specific antibody prevalence to parvovirus B19: how many women are infected in pregnancy? , 1994, Communicable disease report. CDR review.

[5]  R. Pebody,et al.  Interpreting serological surveys using mixture models: the seroepidemiology of measles, mumps and rubella in England and Wales at the beginning of the 21st century , 2006, Epidemiology and Infection.

[6]  S. Grosse,et al.  New estimates of the prevalence of neurological and sensory sequelae and mortality associated with congenital cytomegalovirus infection , 2007, Reviews in medical virology.

[7]  M. Cannon,et al.  Review and meta‐analysis of the epidemiology of congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection , 2007, Reviews in medical virology.

[8]  M. Cannon,et al.  Permissive nicotine regulation as a complement to traditional tobacco control , 2005, BMC public health.

[9]  S. Boppana,et al.  Congenital cytomegalovirus infection: outcome and diagnosis. , 2005, Seminars in pediatric infectious diseases.

[10]  E. Miller,et al.  Cytomegalovirus infection in England and Wales: 1992 and 1993. , 1995, Communicable disease report. CDR review.

[11]  N. Gay,et al.  Ten years of serological surveillance in England and Wales: methods, results, implications and action. , 2000, International journal of epidemiology.

[12]  N. Gay,et al.  Seroprevalence of antibody to varicella zoster virus in England and Wales in children and young adults , 2004, Epidemiology and Infection.

[13]  Fernando A. B. Colugnati,et al.  Incidence of cytomegalovirus infection among the general population and pregnant women in the United States , 2007, BMC infectious diseases.

[14]  H. Kelly,et al.  A random cluster survey and a convenience sample give comparable estimates of immunity to vaccine preventable diseases in children of school age in Victoria, Australia. , 2002, Vaccine.

[15]  A. Ades,et al.  Cytomegalovirus prevalence in pregnant women: the influence of parity. , 1992, Archives of disease in childhood.