The 2008 congenital cytomegalovirus conference, 5-7 November, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta

The theme of this conference was 'public health action towards awareness, prevention, and treatment'. The purpose was to bring together researchers and clinicians from various fields to discuss the latest research on congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and how these findings can be translated into public health action for better health of women and children. In addition, families with children affected by congenital CMV participated in the conference, either in integrated sessions together with the experts or in separate sessions only for the families. These children were a testimony of the severe disabilities that congenital infections can cause. More than 250 participants from all over the world attended the conference, which included about 50 oral presentations and 50 poster presentations. In this report the different topics of this conference will be briefly discussed, with a focus on disease burden and public health. Most presentations can be found at: http://www.congenitalcmv.org/cmvslides2008.htm .