Pediatric Pearls. TORCH Infections: Test Your Knowledge

August 22, 2023

Grab a piece of paper and see how you do on these 9 questions about TORCH infections. The answers and a bit of a discussion are at the end. Some are hard, others are easier – have fun – realize how much you have learned!

Question #1

You are caring for an infant in the Mother Baby Unit whose weight plots out to be SGA (small for gestational age). On examination his skin has numerous bluish papules and he has absent red reflexes. He refers his hearing screen on both sides. The mother immigrated to the US during her third trimester and did not receive prenatal care prior to arriving in the United States. She says that she had a low-grade fever and rash during the second month of the pregnancy.

Of the following, the MOST likely infectious cause of the findings in this infant is:

A.   Toxoplasmosis

B.   Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

C.   Rubella virus

D.   Cytomegalovirus (CMV)

E.   Varicella-zoster virus (chickenpox)