Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection and Hearing Loss: It’s Time to Screen

Abstract

Congenital CMV infection is the leading nongenetic cause of sensorineural hearing loss worldwide, yet most parents have never heard of it. The majority of infected newborns have no clinical signs of infection, although a substantial proportion may have hearing loss at birth or develop it later in life. As antiviral treatment with ganciclovir or valganciclovir initiated in the first month of age improves audiologic outcomes, there is an urgent need for timely identification of infected neonates. A targeted approach that tests neonates who refer on the newborn hearing screen has been implemented in many states and hospital programs, but it fails to identify about 40% of children who experience CMV-related hearing loss. A universal screening approach is optimal given the prevalence of congenital CMV infection, its associated sequelae, the availability of a simple saliva screening tool, the available antiviral treatment, and the directed therapies for hearing impairment.