coxsackie vaccine on the way?

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Virus in Placenta Linked to Problems in Newborns

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A common virus that causes generally mild

infections in adults can cause serious respiratory and other problems in

infants infected in utero, researchers report.

In a study of seven newborns with severe respiratory problems and later

neurological problems and developmental delays, the researchers found signs

of a sackie virus infection in six of the seven.

sackie viruses take their name from the upstate New York town where they

were first identified in 1948. Infection with these viruses is typically

mild, although they can cause more severe illness including meningitis and

inflammation of the heart in newborn babies.

Dr. Gerard J. Nuovo from Ohio State University Medical Center, Columbus, and

colleagues analyzed placental tissue from the seven newborns. They also

analyzed tissue from the placentas of 10 healthy infants (the ``control

group'') and from five infants infected with other common viruses in utero,

including cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex and parvovirus.

In six of the seven infants with respiratory failure, genetic material from

the coxsackie virus was found. The other infant was negative for all tested

viruses. However, none of the placenta tissue of the 10 controls or the five

infants with a known placental infection showed evidence of coxsackie virus

infection, the researchers report in the December issue of Obstetrics and

Gynecology.

Soon after birth, the infants affected by coxsackie had severe mental defects

that required physical, occupational and sometimes institutional therapy.

These children also occasionally needed treatment to prevent seizures.

``This study provides direct evidence that placental infection with coxsackie

virus does occur. It also provides indirect evidence that coxsackie virus

infection of the fetus acquired in utero caused the global and severe

developmental delays that each child exhibited,'' Nuovo and colleagues

conclude.

Their findings, they add, underscore the importance of testing the placenta

for viral infection in newborns with severe illness.

SOURCE: Obstetrics & Gynecology 2001;98:1019-1026.