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Public health and laboratory considerations regarding newborn screening for congenital cytomegalovirus
Author(s) -
Dollard Sheila C.,
Schleiss Mark R.,
Grosse Scott D.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of inherited metabolic disease
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.462
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1573-2665
pISSN - 0141-8955
DOI - 10.1007/s10545-010-9125-3
Subject(s) - cytomegalovirus , hearing loss , newborn screening , medicine , pediatrics , congenital hearing loss , screening test , public health , betaherpesvirinae , human cytomegalovirus , viral disease , immunology , virus , sensorineural hearing loss , herpesviridae , audiology , pathology
Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is the most common infection in newborns worldwide and causes hearing loss and other neurological disability in 15–20% of infected infants. Only about half of the hearing loss resulting from congenital CMV infection is currently detected by universal newborn hearing screening because of late‐onset hearing loss. Thus, much of the hearing loss and the majority of other CMV‐associated disabilities remain undetected for years after birth and are never connected to CMV infection. Congenital CMV may be appropriate to include in national newborn screening (NBS) programs because it is more common than other disorders tested for by NBS programs and is a major cause of disability. Significant obstacles to the implementation of screening for congenital CMV include the lack of a standardized, high‐throughput screening test and a protocol for follow‐up of CMV‐infected children. Nonetheless, screening newborns for congenital CMV infection merits further consideration.