from William J. Britt, Djurdjica Cekinović and Stipan Jonjić writing in Cytomegaloviruses: From Molecular Pathogenesis to Intervention:
Congenital HCMV infection of developing CNS is a major cause of long-term neuronal morbidity. Prevention of neurological damage due to CNS infection is considered as the primary goal of vaccine strategies and passively administered biologics. Due to species specificity of CMVs animal models have been developed in order to paradigmatically analyze the course of CMV infections. While different animal models provide good tools for studies of HCMV infections in the immunocompromised host, no single animal model completely recapitulates the pathogenesis of congenital HCMV infection. The murine model of perinatal MCMV infection in newborn mice has been proven as powerful tool to analyze the pathogenesis of congenital HCMV infection and mechanisms of the immune response which control CNS infection in the developing brain. This review describes a model of MCMV infection in neonatal mice that represents various aspects of HCMV infection in neonates, and thus, could be highly predictive for possible antiviral interventions in humans.
Further reading: Cytomegaloviruses: From Molecular Pathogenesis to Intervention