Search for Perinatal Viral Infection

SEVERE and often fatal neonatal illnesses due to coxsackievirus B have been frequently reported. 1-3 Less emphasized, but also noted, have been mild neonatal illnesses due to coxsackievirus and other enteroviruses. 1,2,4,5 Although at birth the newborn has no microbiologic flora of its own, it acquires a bacterial flora shortly thereafter. 6 This phenomenon has been well studied, 6 as has the acquisition of pathologic bacterial flora. 7,8 However, there have been relatively few studies investigating the normal viral inhabitants of the newborn and the mother at parturition. 9-11 With the possible exception of the cytomegaloviruses 12 and adenoviruses 13,14 recovered from tonsils and adenoids, it is generally felt that there is no upper respiratory viral flora in the human. However, both children and adults are apparently being continually infected by the ororespiratory route with a multitude of different viruses. 3,15 Because of the relative paucity of data