Abstract

Prenatal infections can have adverse effects on an infant's hearing, speech, and language development. Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are two such infections that may lead to these complications, especially when left untreated. CMV is commonly associated with sensorineural hearing loss in children, and it can also be associated with anatomical abnormalities in the central nervous system responsible for speech, language, and intellectual acquisition. In terms of speech, language, and hearing, HIV is most associated with conductive and/or sensorineural hearing loss and expressive language deficits. Children born with these infections may benefit from cochlear implantation for severe to profound sensorineural hearing losses and/or speech therapy for speech/language deficits. CMV and HIV simultaneously present in infants has not been thoroughly studied, but one may hypothesize these speech, language, and hearing deficits to be present with potentially higher severity. Early identification of the infection in combination with early intervention strategies yields better results for these children than no identification or intervention. The purpose of this review was to investigate how congenital CMV and/or HIV may affect hearing, speech, and language development in children, and the importance of early identification for these populations.

Highlights

  • There are many infectious diseases that can adversely affect auditory system development if a fetus is exposed to the infection in-utero, during delivery, or shortly after birth

  • Symptomatic expression of congenital CMV (cCMV) increases the likelihood of neurosensory impairments, including visual impairments, by up to 60% (10) and sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) by 44.4% (2)

  • Results showed primary CMV diagnosis that SNHL is more common in cCMV-positive infants born to mothers who became infected with CMV in their first trimester than mothers infected later in pregnancy

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Summary

Introduction

There are many infectious diseases that can adversely affect auditory system development if a fetus is exposed to the infection in-utero, during delivery, or shortly after birth. These include rubella, Zika virus, lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), herpes simplex virus (HSV) types 1 and 2, measles, varicella zoster virus, mumps, and West Nile virus (1). CMV is the “leading cause of (congenital) nonhereditary sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in the developed world” (2), affecting approximately 1 in every 100–200 births (3). Ten percent of these infants are symptomatic at birth (2, 3).

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