Newborn screening of congenital cytomegalovirus infection using saliva can be influenced by breast feeding

Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection occurs in 0.2–2% of all births in developed countries and causes developmental abnormalities.1 In addition to patients symptomatic at birth, asymptomatic newborns can develop late-onset sequelae, including sensorineural hearing loss and developmental delay. As the early identification of congenitally infected newborns may allow early intervention and antiviral treatment options, it is important to establish newborn cCMV screening programmes. Since newborn screening assays using dried blood spots for cCMV infection were …