Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a group of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication, and behavioral challenges for children and families. An estimated one in 88 children in the United States are affected by an ASD. Early identification and intervention have been shown to improve outcomes for these children, and the routine well-child visit is a critical opportunity for pediatric health care providers to obtain developmental information relating to ASD identification.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Transmission of cytomegalovirus (CMV) via breast milk can lead to severe acute illness in very low-birth-weight (VLBW) preterm infants. Although the majority of CMV-seropositive women shed CMV in milk, symptomatic postnatal infection of VLBW infants occurs infrequently, suggesting that virologic or immunologic factors in milk may be associated with the risk and severity of postnatal CMV infection.
Methods: We investigated the magnitude of CMV-specific cellular and humoral immune responses in milk of 30 seropositive mothers of VLWB preterm infants and assessed their relationship to milk CMV load and symptomatic CMV transmission.