Congenital Cytomegalovirus: a "Now" Problem-No Really, Now.

Despite the clear need, progress toward a vaccine for congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) has been slow. However, recent events have provided new interest, and several vaccine candidates are either in clinical trials or the trials are close to starting. In this issue of Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, Schleiss and colleagues show that a nonreplicating lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (rLCMV)-vectored vaccine expressing CMV glycoprotein B (gB) and/or pp65 induces B and T cells and improves pup survival in a guinea pig model of congenital CMV infection (Clin Vaccine Immunol 24:e00300-16, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1128/CVI.00300-16). The combination vaccine appeared to be the most effective.