Developmental disorders of the fetus in some arthropod-borne virus infections

A number of arboviruses have been associated with congenital defects in domestic aminals and man. In this review comparison is made of the temporal association between epidemics of arboviruses affecting man and animals in which there is an obvious relationship between the infection and the fetal defects, and arboviruses which cause no overt clinical symptoms in the vertebrate host but result in deformities of the fetus. The danger to the fetus following the use of live attenuated virus vaccines against several important arbovirus diseases is also examined. It is concluded that arboviruses which are capable of infecting humans or animals without producing overt clinical signs, and attenuated vaccine viruses pose the greatest threat to the fetus.