Restriction endonuclease analysis of cytomegalovirus deoxyribonucleic acid as an epidemiologic tool.

The possibility of transmission of cytomegalovirus (CMV) from congenitally infected infants to susceptible medical personnel produces anxiety because the risks have not been defined. A physician conceived her first child while caring for an infant in the intensive care nursery who died with congenital CMV infection. The physician had serologic evidence of active CMV infection confirmed by isolation of virus from multiple sites. She elected to have her pregnancy interrupted. CMV was isolated from the placenta and fetal brain. Restriction enzyme analysis was employed to test all the CMV isolated for genetic relatedness. Virus isolated from the physician and her fetus was identical. The virus from the index nursery infant was different from the strain infecting the physician and her fetus. These data indicate that the physician acquired her virus from a source other than the index infant.