TORCH syndrome

TORCH syndrome is a cluster of symptoms in a newborn caused by an infection acquired before birth. The name is an acronym for the infections it groups: toxoplasmosis, other agents, rubella, cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex. The other agents include syphilis, parvovirus and varicella zoster, and Zika virus is considered the most recent member of the group. Because several different organisms, viral, bacterial and parasitic, can produce overlapping signs in an infant, the term is used as a way of naming the family of congenital infections together rather than a single disease with one cause. The condition belongs with disorders that originate in the perinatal period, because the infection is congenital, present from birth.