Hearing in Children with Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection: Results of a Longitudinal Study

Symptomatic and asymptomatic cCMV infections are a major cause of hearing loss in childhood. Reliable estimates of the long-term outcome of cCMV infection are mandatory to increase vigilance, especially among pregnant women and to draw attention to preventive measures, vaccine development, and prenatal and postnatal therapy. Universal screening of newborns for cCMV infection should be initiated and combined with longitudinal audiometric follow-up.