Intrafamilial transmission of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV): Long-term dynamics of epitope-specific antibody response in context of avidity maturation

PEKiP®-meetings with naked babies may be an important source of horizontal HCMV-transmission to seronegative pregnant mothers in Germany. Using epitope-specific immunoblots, persisting HCMVp150-IgM-reactivities and good concordance between high IgG-avidity and increase of fibroblast adapted neutralization capacity were found.