"The war ends. The landmine goes on killing," said Jody Williams, who led the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, in her 1997 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. The Ottawa Treaty, signed that year, banned the use of anti-personnel landmines as well as the ability to "develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer" them, directly or indirectly. It has since been ratified by 160 countries but not by the U.S., China or Russia. And Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced his intention to withdraw from the pact, following similar decisions by Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. 

What did the commentators say? 
These final five countries together guard 2,150 miles of NATO's frontier with Russia and its client state of Belarus. And in the three years since the invasion of Ukraine, they have all made "significant investments to better secure these borders" with fences and surveillance, said DW. "Now, a new plan is in the works: landmines." 

"Banning them might have been a luxury cause for a dominant West in the years of safety after the Cold War," said David Blair at The Telegraph. "Yet no longer." As Europe rearms to "deter" Vladimir Putin, "what was once unconscionable has become unavoidable": a "new Iron Curtain" of millions of landmines. 

Zelenskyy argues the treaty has created an unequal situation that limits Ukraine's right to self-defense. The Kremlin has by far the world's largest stockpile of anti-personnel mines, with an estimated 26 million, and has deployed them with "utmost cynicism in Ukrainian territory," he said. Yet Kyiv is barred from using such mines, which are "often the instrument for which nothing can be substituted for defense purposes." 

What next? 
"Liberal-democratic" states across northern Europe are "in agreement," defense expert Francis Tusa said at The Independent. If Kyiv loses, Russia may be "emboldened to take military action against the Baltic states, Finland or even Poland." Many defense specialists believe the timeline for such action would be "within three to five years." 

But anti-landmine campaigners "worry this is part of a larger trend, with the rules of war and international humanitarian norms being eroded more broadly," said The Irish Times. As conflicts escalate around the world, said Josephine Dresner, the director of policy with the Mines Advisory Group, it's "impossible not to feel that we are going backward." 

Cytomegalovirus recently caused a 2-month-old girl in Pennsylvania to suffer severe hearing loss after it was passed to her in the womb. While CMV can exist in a person for life without showing any symptoms, it can cause permanent disability in infants. So researchers are looking to create a vaccine for the disease. But finding success has proven tricky.

What's cytomegalovirus?
CMV is a common herpes virus. More than half of adults have been infected with it by age 40, most with no signs or symptoms, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, it could be deadly for immunosuppressed people. 

In rare cases, some who acquire CMV infection "may experience a mononucleosis-like condition." It can spread in adults through contact with infectious body fluids, sexual contact, organ transplants and blood transfusions. 

In babies, who can contract it in the uterus or during birth, the virus is the "leading infectious cause of birth defects" in the U.S. and can have lifelong complications, said CBS News. It is symptomatic in 10% of cases and can lead to "jaundice, fever, and enlargement of the spleen and liver," said Britannica. Cytomegalovirus infections are a "major cause of congenital deafness and have other long-range neurological consequences, including intellectual disability and blindness." 

If it's "very early in pregnancy, sometimes the result can be very serious," said Jennifer Vodzak, a pediatric infectious disease doctor, to CBS News. It can lead to a "miscarriage and sometimes can lead to very serious birth defects for an infant." New evidence also suggests that CMV in adults may burden the immune system in fighting diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.

What's the outlook for a vaccine?
Scientists are looking to develop a vaccine for cytomegalovirus, though efforts have been unsuccessful. "If we don't know what weapons the enemy is using, it's hard to protect against it," said Jeremy Kamil, a senior author of a study about how CMV infects the body, in a statement. Luckily, researchers have made a breakthrough in discovering how the virus uses a specific protein in the body to circumvent the immune system. This discovery could move vaccine efforts along. 

For now, newborn screening for CMV could allow for early intervention. Also, washing hands regularly and not sharing utensils, food or straws, especially when pregnant, can prevent the spread.