Evaluating Dried Blood Spot PCR for Detecting Congenital Cytomegalovirus in Newborns Identified by Targeted Testing

Highlight

• Dried blood spot (DBS) PCR testing demonstrated a high diagnostic sensitivity (86.3%) for congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) in infants previously identified by expanded targeted testing.

• Sensitivity was higher for moderate to severe symptomatic cCMV disease (92.7%) compared to mild symptomatic disease (78.1%).

• DBS PCR showed excellent specificity (99.5%) and positive predictive value (100%), suggesting strong accuracy in confirmed cCMV cases.

• Results caution against direct extrapolation of DBS universal screening performance from this targeted cohort, especially for asymptomatic infants.

Study Background