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Are enterovirus infections a co‐factor in sudden hearing loss?
Author(s) -
Mentel Renate,
Kaftan H.,
Wegner U.,
Reißmann A.,
Gürtler L.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.20014
Subject(s) - enterovirus , virology , hearing loss , serology , virus , herpes simplex virus , varicella zoster virus , viral culture , enterovirus 71 , medicine , polymerase chain reaction , viral disease , enterovirus infections , cytomegalovirus , herpesviridae , biology , immunology , antibody , audiology , biochemistry , gene
Since viral infections are believed to be one of the causes of sudden hearing loss we have used serological assays for herpes simplex virus (HSV), varicella zoster virus (VZV), and enterovirus as well as polymerase chain reaction for enterovirus to test 55 sudden hearing loss patients for viral infections. Serological screening of these patients for HSV and VZV failed to reveal significant differences between the patient group and the controls. In contrast, enterovirus sequences were detected by RT‐PCR in 40% of the patient group, but in none of the controls, suggesting that enterovirus infections may be associated with sudden hearing loss. J. Med. Virol. 72:625–629, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.