Healthcare professionals are well aware of the risk CMV poses to unborn infants.
While they are not expected to know of all pregnant women who will come in contact with a particular patient who is infected, they must warn such patients that CMV is highly contagious and that they should avoid contact with pregnant women. Despite their diagnosis, the mother and child were visited at home by a friend who assisted with feeding and bathing the infant and with changing the diapers. The friend herself had just become pregnant. The friend continued to visit the mother during the first two trimesters of her own pregnancy and often assisted the mother in caring for the baby. Six months after she began visiting with the mother and assisting with her infant's care, the friend learned for the first time that CMV is highly contagious and poses a special threat to pregnant women.