Every year, about 400 babies are born with physical and intellectual disabilities caused by a virus many pregnant women don’t know about.
It was a plate smashing on the kitchen floor that first alerted Catherine Bradshaw that something was amiss with her six-month-old daughter, Kirsten.Catherine Bradshaw with husband Jarrod Gorman and daughter Kirsten.The concerned family took Kirsten to a hearing clinic where she was diagnosed with profound deafness. Four months later, after Kirsten failed to meet milestones including holding up her head, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
“We do a blood test because women don’t usually have any symptoms when they catch it,” explains Professor Lisa Hui, a maternal fetal medicine specialist involved in the study. She uses a computer to communicate with family and friends, has a cheeky sense of humour and loves AFL team Geelong and the ocean.
A federal Health Department spokeswoman said its pregnancy care guidelines were also being updated and would consider the latest evidence when it came to communicable diseases such as CMV.
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