TY - JOUR
T1 - Pooling Saliva Sample as an Effective Strategy for the Systematic CMV Screening of Newborns-A Multicentric Prospective Study
AU - Chasqueira, Maria-Jesus
AU - Fernandez, Catarina
AU - Marques, Augusta
AU - Rodrigues, Lucia
AU - Marçal, Mónica
AU - Tuna, Madalena
AU - Braz, Monica
AU - S Neto, Ana
AU - Mendes, Candida
AU - Lito, David
AU - Vasconcellos, Gabriela
AU - Rocha, Paula
AU - Cassiano, Gonçalo
AU - Silva, Pedro
AU - Monteiro, Luísa
AU - Sequeira, Ana
AU - Favila Menezes, Maria
AU - Albuquerque, Margarida
AU - Rego de Sousa, Maria José
AU - Paixão, Paulo
PY - 2023/12/1
Y1 - 2023/12/1
N2 - BACKGROUND: Cytomegalovirus is the most common cause of congenital infections worldwide. Screening all newborns in the first 2 weeks of life is the only way to detect all cases of congenital infection, allowing the monitoring of children with asymptomatic infection at birth and early intervention.AIM: In this multicenter study, we aimed to evaluate the feasibility of using a saliva pool strategy for mass screening in 7 Portuguese hospitals, and to estimate the current prevalence of this congenital infection in these hospitals.METHODS: A total of 7033 newborns were screened between June 2020 and June 2022, and 704 pools of 10 saliva samples were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).RESULTS: Of the 704 pools analyzed, 685 were negative and 19 had positive PCR results for cytomegalovirus. After individual PCR testing, 26 newborns had positive saliva results, of which 15 were confirmed by urine testing. Thus, this study's prevalence of congenital infection was 0.21% (95% confidence interval: 0.12%-0.35%).CONCLUSIONS: In this study, the pooling strategy proved to be effective for the systematic screening of newborns, although this low prevalence raises questions regarding the cost-effectiveness of implementing universal screening. However, this prevalence is probably the result of the control measures taken during the pandemic; therefore, the rates are expected to return to prepandemic values, but only a new study after the pandemic will be able to confirm this.
AB - BACKGROUND: Cytomegalovirus is the most common cause of congenital infections worldwide. Screening all newborns in the first 2 weeks of life is the only way to detect all cases of congenital infection, allowing the monitoring of children with asymptomatic infection at birth and early intervention.AIM: In this multicenter study, we aimed to evaluate the feasibility of using a saliva pool strategy for mass screening in 7 Portuguese hospitals, and to estimate the current prevalence of this congenital infection in these hospitals.METHODS: A total of 7033 newborns were screened between June 2020 and June 2022, and 704 pools of 10 saliva samples were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).RESULTS: Of the 704 pools analyzed, 685 were negative and 19 had positive PCR results for cytomegalovirus. After individual PCR testing, 26 newborns had positive saliva results, of which 15 were confirmed by urine testing. Thus, this study's prevalence of congenital infection was 0.21% (95% confidence interval: 0.12%-0.35%).CONCLUSIONS: In this study, the pooling strategy proved to be effective for the systematic screening of newborns, although this low prevalence raises questions regarding the cost-effectiveness of implementing universal screening. However, this prevalence is probably the result of the control measures taken during the pandemic; therefore, the rates are expected to return to prepandemic values, but only a new study after the pandemic will be able to confirm this.
KW - CMV
KW - congenital
KW - screening
KW - pool
U2 - 10.1097/INF.0000000000004096
DO - 10.1097/INF.0000000000004096
M3 - Article
C2 - 37725820
SN - 0891-3668
VL - 42
SP - 1117
EP - 1120
JO - The Pediatric infectious disease journal
JF - The Pediatric infectious disease journal
IS - 12
ER -