A female infant is born to a 16-year-old mother. The infant shows signs and symptoms of hepatosplenomegaly, jaundice, low birth weight, chorioretinitis, and microcephaly. The mother appears healthy and reports an unremarkable pregnancy except for a period during the third month when she developed a fever, sore throat, and became extremely fatigued for a period of 10 days. The most likely causative pathogen for the infant's disease is

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

CMV is the most likely pathogen; it was probably passed to the infant during a primary CMV infection of the mother during her first trimester of pregnancy. The baby has congenital cytomegalovirus infection.

A Female Infant Is Born to a 16-Year-Old Mother