Explore the recorded discovery and history of Human cytomegalovirus, with source links and stated limits.
CDC describes cytomegalovirus as a common virus that infects people of all ages and, once present, stays in the body for life and can reactivate. A healthy person's immune system usually keeps it from causing illness. Its documented importance is for babies infected before birth and for people with weakened immune systems.
A 2025 perspective published for the 65-year anniversary of the discovery of cytomegalovirus traces isolation of the virus from newborns with congenital infection to reports by Margaret Smith in 1956 and Weller and colleagues in 1957, with Rowe and colleagues recovering a similar agent from adenoid cultures in 1956. The virus was initially called salivary gland virus, and the characteristic cell pathology in congenital disease had been described decades earlier.
The 1950s isolates came from infants already known to have congenital infection, so they record laboratory identification rather than a first human case. CMV infection is widespread worldwide and no origin or patient zero is assigned.
Source check: 2026-09-19. Educational content; independent scientific review remains pending.