Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN)

Cytomegalovirus, or CMV, is a common virus that infects people of all ages. Most CMV infections are “silent”, meaning the majority of healthy people who are infected with CMV have no signs or symptoms, and there are no harmful effects. However, when CMV occurs during a woman’s pregnancy, the baby can become infected with the virus in the womb.

CMV infection before birth is known as “congenital CMV”. When this happens, the virus gets transmitted to the unborn infant which can damage the baby’s brain, vision and/or hearing. Thirty percent of hearing differences in children are caused by congenital CMV.
For more information visit:

• http://health.utah.gov/CMV
• http://nationalcmv.org/