Evaluation of the Benefit of Antiviral Treatment With Valganciclovir on Congenital CMV Infection-related Deafness on Hearing and Balance

Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is the leading cause of non-genetic neurosensory deafness and affects 0.5 to 1% of births. Twenty to thirty per cent of children will develop deafness, some of whom will progress gradually to profound bilateral deafness. No curative treatment is currently offered for this deterioration in hearing and management involves the use of a hearing aid or cochlear implant. Many studies describe the utility of antiviral treatment on the course of the deafness. These mostly involve neonates with multi-system symptomatic forms of the infection who have been given 6 weeks of ganciclovir possibly switched to valganciclovir, which has shown benefit in stabilising auditory loss, or even improvement.