Search

Objective: Maternal and fetal congenital infection by cytomegalovirus (CMV) during pregnancy is the leading infectious cause of neurologic impairment and hearing loss. Efforts at limiting CMV exposure are based on hygienic measures. This study assessed the relationship between CMV knowledge and pregnant women's time perspective as per the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) scale., Methods: We conducted a prospective descriptive study at a secondary-care Portuguese hospital between October to November 2021. All consecutive pregnant women in antenatal third-trimester appointments were included. The questionnaire included: sociodemographic data, knowledge about CMV, and the ZTPI scale, validated to our population. The number of correct answers in the knowledge section of the questionnaire was tallied to determine the individual knowledge score (KS). We investigated patients subjective perceptions of CMV infection during pregnancy, CMV knowledge, and CMV serologic status of pregnant women., Results: We enrolled 96 pregnant women. 81.0% had not previously heard about CMV and only 8.8% had heard about it through their obstetrician. No significant association between awareness of CMV and education level was detected. 16.0% of pregnant women declared that they were aware of the hygienic measures for CMV. The CMV serology was performed in 21.3% of those enrolled in the preconception assessment, and 13.8% proved to be immune. From the time perspective, half of the women displayed a future-oriented attitude. Future-oriented women had significantly higher KS. No significant association was found between KS and education level, age, or previous pregnancy. There was a significant association between KS and women that work in health care., Conclusions: Most patients had no knowledge of CMV. Being a medical professional and having a future-oriented outlook increases knowledge about CMV. Primary health care and obstetrics doctors may play a crucial role in informing pregnant women of antenatal appointments. The CMV serology coverage is scarce in this sample. This study constitutes a first step toward raising the awareness of the general population about CMV.

Background: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a leading cause of congenital infections. Dried blood spots (DBS) collected in the first week of life (Guthrie cards) have been used in the diagnosis of CMV infection outside the three-week window period following birth. The present work summarizes the results of a 15-year observational study in which DBS from 1388 children were used for a late diagnosis of congenital CMV infection., Methods: Three groups of children were studied: (i) symptomatic (with symptoms at birth or late sequelae) (N = 779); (ii) born to mothers with serological profile of primary CMV infection (N = 75); (iii) without any information (N = 534). A highly sensitive method of DNA extraction (heat-induced) from the DBS was used. CMV DNA was detected by a nested PCR., Results: In total CMV DNA was detected in 7.5% (104/1388) of children. Symptomatic children showed a low rate of CMV DNA detection (6.7%) than children born to mothers with serological profile of primary CMV infection (13.3%) (p = 0.034). Sensorial hearing loss and encephalopathy were the two clinical manifestations with the highest CMV detection rate (18.3% and 11.1%, respectively). Children whose mothers had a confirmed primary infection showed a higher rate of CMV detection (35.3%) when compared with children whose mothers had a not confirmed primary infection (6.9%) (p = 0.007)., Conclusion: The present work emphasises the importance of testing DBS in symptomatic children even a long time after symptoms onset and in children born to mothers with serologic diagnosis of maternal primary CMV infection when they miss the diagnosis during the three-week window following birth., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: Children with congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection face a bigger risk of neurological deficits and developmental delays associated with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Their rehabilitation with a cochlear implant (CI) may therefore be inferior to the paediatric population in general. This study describes post-implant outcomes in children with CMV-related deafness and compares them to children with genetic deafness caused by GJB2 mutation (connexin 26) rehabilitated at the Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra, Portugal. Material and method: We conducted a revision of 11 children with profound hearing loss caused by congenital CMV infection rehabilitated with a CI in our institution. The children were divided into 3 groups according to age of implantation (<2 years, 2-3 years, >3 years) and their performance was compared to a group of children with genetic hearing loss caused by GJB2 mutation. To compare performance the following tests were applied: SIR, CAP, vocal characteristics evaluation grid (VCEG), MAIS, and MUSS. Results: We found no differences between the two groups in terms of hearing thresholds obtained with a CI. In spite of a wider spread of results in the CMV group, there were no significant statistical differences in the SIR and VCEG tests or in the MAIS and MUSS questionnaires. There was a significant difference in the CAP test (p=0.049) where the GJB2 group had superior results. Conclusions: The present study has shown that the CMV group had poorer results for the CAP test and a wider spread of results in the other tests. However, the CMV group attained results comparable to children with profound hearing loss and no other deficit, and benefited from rehabilitation with a cochlear implant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]