Prevalence of Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection in a CMV-Endemic Ugandan Population.

Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection is a leading cause of childhood deafness and disability worldwide. However, less is known about its epidemiology in low-income regions where most women are CMV-seropositive at conception. We found that cCMV is highly prevalent in rural Uganda (3.73%) and is associated with lower gravidity and placental malaria. We additionally report a high transmission intensity in the first years of life, with 97.3% of children acquiring CMV IgG by age 3.