Incidence of congenital CMV in children at a hearing rehabilitation center

Incidence of congenital CMV in children at a hearing rehabilitation center. Objective: To evaluate the incidence of children with congenital CMV (cCMV) infection in a hearing rehabilitation center. Methodology: This was a retrospective review of 309 children followed in a rehabilitation center for mild to total sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Seventy-five children had dried blood spots that we retrieved and retrospectively analyzed for the presence of CMV DNA by real time PCR. The children were born in Belgium after January 1996. The etiology of the SNHL was investigated for each child. Results: The CMV DNA was detected in the dried blood spots for 8 of the 75 children tested (10.6%) by real time PCR. In three children, an alternative etiology of SNHL was suspected before the cCMV infection was diagnosed. Conclusions: The incidence of children infected with cCMV in a hearing rehabilitation center is high (10.6%). The detection of CMV DNA in dried blood spots is useful and improves the etiological diagnosis of SNHL.