Aim: To determine the risk of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection for personnel providing services to young disabled children.
Methods: The prevalence and incidence of CMV in a group of educators were compared with a group of nurses working in homes for the elderly.
Results: The prevalence was measured in 283 educators and 294 nurses. Both groups were comparable for well-established risk factors for CMV infection. The prevalence of seropositivity was 15.9% in the educators and 18.4% in the nurses. After a 1-year period 182 of the educators and 157 of the nurses who were initially seronegative for CMV were retested for serologic evidence of CMV infection. The annual conversion rate was 1.03% in educators and 1.42% in nurses.
Conclusion: The prevalence of CMV antibodies among both educators and nurses did not differ and was lower to that observed in American studies of comparable populations. Annual seroconversion rates were not different between these groups.