Woman who got ‘a bad cold’ during pregnancy is shocked to discover she passed common but little-known virus to her unborn baby which left him profoundly deaf

When Rebekka Murray went for her routine 20-week ultrasound, she received news no expectant mother wants to hear.

Doctors found an abnormality on her baby’s bowel, and they referred her for further scans.

Then the doctor asked Mrs Murray something she never expected.

Little Jackson, five months, contracted Cytomegalovirus (CMV) from his mother Rebekka Murray while in the womb

Mrs Murray, pictured with her husband Reid and children Callum, four, Ella, three and Jackson, got CMV for the first time while pregnant with her son, Jackson

‘He asked “have you been sick?”,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.

‘With Jackson, I got sick between the first and second trimester, I had a really bad cold.’

But the ‘cold’ symptoms Mrs Murray suffered was in fact the little-known Cytomegalovirus (CMV), which she contracted for the first time while pregnant.

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CMV is most common in children, and once a person has become infected, the virus remains alive but usually inactive within that person’s body for life.

Women who contract CMV for the first time while pregnant risk the virus being passed on to their unborn baby.

Mrs Murray and her husband, Reid, endured an anxious 10-week wait to see if the virus had passed on to her baby boy, Jackson.

At 34 weeks, they found out it had.

Mrs Jackson suffered from flu-like symptoms when she was pregnant, which turned out to be CMV. It showed up after an ultrasound found an abnormality on Jackson’s bowel

Little Jackson was born at 34 weeks via cesarean, and he stayed in the intensive care unit for one month

WHAT IS CYTOMEGALOVIRUS? 

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is common , with 50 per cent people having been infected by young adulthood and up to 85 per cent by 40 years of age. 

Once a person becomes infected, the virus remains alive but usually inactive (dormant) within that person’s body for life.

 If a woman is newly infected with CMV while pregnant, there is a risk that her unborn baby will also become infected. Infected babies may, but not always, be born with a disability.

Studies in Australia have shown that out of 1,000 live births, about six infants will have congenital CMV infection

Pregnant women are recommended to take steps to reduce their risk of exposure to CMV by washing their hands regularly, not sharing food, drink or utensils with young children, avoiding contact with saliva when kissing a child and using simple detergent to clean things that have been in contact with saliva.

For more information, visit CMV Australia. 

Mrs Murray, a 24-year-old mother-of-three from Mackay, Queensland, had a complicated pregnancy, with doctors telling her the blood vessels in her baby’s brain were dilated and his liver and spleen too large.

‘It was indicating he stopped growing at about 30 weeks. He was becoming anaemic,’ she said.

Little Jackson was born via cesarean at 35 weeks and five days, weighing 1.98 kilograms.

‘They rushed him over to the special care unit, he was in there for a month,’ Mrs Murray said.

‘About day five he got really sick, he gained another infection besides the CMV.’

After he was born Jackson was sick with the virus and an infection, and underwent a number of platelet transfusions

Mrs Murray said Jackson stopped breathing on them once when he was a newborn

Jackson underwent a number of platelet transfusions before being put on a stronger drug.

‘He stopped breathing on us once,’ Mrs Murray said.

But thankfully, after a month in hospital, little Jackson was well enough to go home.

Aside from his infection, Jackson was born profoundly deaf.

He currently has monthly blood tests and remains on medication.

‘At the moment his liver and spleen are doing great, they’re still a bit large but the levels are okay,’ Mrs Murray said.

While Jackson is profoundly deaf, he is currently developing well

‘He’s developing quite well, we’re really lucky in that respect.

‘We need to be careful of a lot of things as he grows older, he could get epilepsy, cerebral palsy, calcification on the brain, but for now we’re quite blessed.’

Mrs Murray hopes by speaking out to raise awareness about CMV and how it can affect pregnant women and their unborn babies.

She said while most people contracted the virus as a child, she encouraged pregnant women to steer clear of those with cold or flu-like symptoms.