2017 Volume 60 Issue 4 Pages 174-180
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) usually causes subclinical infection in childhood, with the infection remaining asymptomatic throughout life. However, under certain circumstances, such as primary infection or virus reactivation due to an immunocompromised state during pregnancy, congenital CMV infection could be transmitted via the transplacental route. It is estimated that each year, about 3,000 newborns are diagnosed with congenital CMV infection in Japan. Herein, we report a case of delayed-onset sensorineural hearing loss caused by congenital CMV infection. Our patient was a two-year and 9 months old girl who showed no response to verbal stimuli. She had passed the neonatal hearing screening examination at birth and had shown normal speech development until entering kindergarten. As there were no other clinical manifestations, we were unable to identify the cause of the hearing loss. Then, PCR analysis was performed to detect CMV-DNA in her dry-preserved umbilical cord tissue, and a positive test for the viral DNA established the diagnosis of congenital CMV infection. Although in recent years, the seroprevalence rate of anti-CMV antibody has tended to decrease, in particular, in women of childbearing age, this case serves to underscore the importance of including congenital CMV infection in the differential diagnosis in cases presenting with childhood-onset hearing loss.
