[Prenatal chorio-retinitis transmitted by golden hamsters (author's transl)]

Two children of mothers who, in the second half of pregnancy, had been in touch with golden hamsters, had an internal hydrocephalus at birth and extensive chorio-retinitic scars in both eyes. One newborn also had myopia magna, the other severe bilirubinaemia. Increasing titres of neutralizing serum antibodies in both mothers and children and falling titres of complement-binding serum antibodies against the virus of lymphocytic chorio-meningitis argue for a causative role of this micro-organism, apparently transmitted by the hamsters.