Neurodevelopment in Children Exposed to Antenatal CMV Viremia in a High HIV Prevalence Area.

We compared neurodevelopment at age 24 months among children born to mothers with or without cytomegalovirus (CMV) viremia in the third trimester of pregnancy in rural Zimbabwe, using the Malawi Developmental Assessment Tool (MDAT) for gross motor, fine motor, language and social development. Among 209 children, 49 (23%) were exposed to third-trimester CMV viremia. The mean total MDAT score was 91.0 (SD 9.4) in CMV-exposed children versus 94.1 (8.8) in CMV-unexposed children (adjusted difference -4.02 points [95% CI -7.01, -1.04, P = .008]). Cytomegalovirus exposure in utero, without evidence of congenital infection, may impair child neurodevelopment, providing a potential antenatal intervention target.