Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common virus (related to the herpes virus) that can also cause mental retardation and hearing loss in newborn children who were infected in early fetal life.

There is no vaccine or treatment currently available to treat pregnant women infected with CMV.

It is estimated that 40,000 U.S. children are born with CMV each year. CMV is transmitted to the fetus through the mother's placenta.

Now, an NIH-funded research has been able to develop an experimental vaccine that has been found to reduce stillbirths among rodents born to mothers infected with CMV.

Called a vector vaccine, the experimental vaccine uses an altered virus to deliver one gene from the viral DNA to the animal's cells. The cells then begin manufacturing the viral protein. Cells of the Guinea pigs' immune system detect the viral protein and launch an attack against it. In so doing, they learn to recognize CMV.

The study and its results have been described in the March 15, 2007, issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases, providing basis for the potential development of a version of the vector vaccine that could be used for human testing.

Read the full report.