Thursday, June 2, 2011

New Test for Infection

Researchers have developed a new way to check infants for an infection that can cause permanent hearing loss. A simple saliva test can identify cytomegalovirus infection (CMV) in newborns with a 97% accuracy. One out of 150 babies born has CMV. The work is from the University of Alabama at Birmingham with help from colleagues at other medical centers. Details will be published in the New England Journal of Medicine.