Effect on Hearing of Oral Valganciclovir for Asymptomatic Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection

Abstract

Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is the leading nongenetic cause of congenital sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Hearing loss due to congenital CMV infection either has onset after the newborn period or shows progressive decline in auditory thresholds. Although 90% of the congenitally infected infants are asymptomatic at birth, evidence is accumulating that these infants are at risk for audiologic, neurologic and developmental sequelae. In symptomatically infected infants, ganciclovir therapy administered in the neonatal period prevents hearing deterioration. However, preventative therapy of asymptomatic congenital CMV disease is controversial. Here in, we reported a male newborn with asymptomatic congenital CMV with bilateral SNHL. Oral treatment with valganciclovir in patient resulted in progressive improvement of SNHL, which effectively reduced the CMV viral load and was well tolerated without apparent adverse effects.