THE DIAGNOSIS OF CONGENITAL INFECTIONS - CONTEMPORARY STRATEGIES

Congenital infections remain an important source of neurologic, ophtha lmologic, and audiologic disability for thousands of children througho ut the world. This review summarizes the clinical features and describ es contemporary approaches to the microbiologic diagnosis of congenita l infections. In particular, this review emphasizes the important role s that molecular methods, especially the polymerase chain reaction, ha ve in detecting the many infectious agents capable of damaging the dev eloping nervous system.