CONGENITAL INFECTION

The past year has shed much new light on congenital infection. A key d evelopment has been the application of polymerase chain reaction techn ology to the diagnosis of intrauterine infection. This technique appea rs to be the diagnostic tool of choice for toxoplasmosis and cytomegal ovirus. Pharmacologic treatment appears to reduce the sequellae of tox oplasmosis when treated either in utero or postnatally. Obstetric inte rventions may reduce vertical transmission. Education has been shown t o reduce the incidence of seroconversion for toxoplasmosis, and HIV-po sitive women treated with zidovudine have a dramatically reduced rate of transmission to their offspring.