Congenital cytomegalovirus infection cases and follow-up findings in Antalya, Turkey

Objective: To investigate the presence of congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection and the CMV-DNA virus in the newborns who applied for newborn hearing screening test (NHST) and CMV-DNA viruria with physical, mental-motor development and hearing status of cCMV cases in the second year of age.Patients and Methods: CMV-DNA was investigated in 1150 newborns' oral swabs (0-21 days) by polymerase chain reaction kit and urine of patients with positive CMV-DNA in saliva. Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emission test was performed for NHST.Results: CMV-DNA was posititve in saliva of 38 (3.3%) newborns and urine of 10 out of 37 newborns. The prevalence of cCMV was 0.87% (95% CI=0.697-1.042). All newborns passed the NHST. In newborns with cCMV:jaundice in 60% (6/10), low birthweight in 40% (4/10), small for gestational age in 50% (5/10) of them. Jaundice was the most significant variable (P<0.001, OR:23.411, 95% CI=5.772-94.960) and bilirubin levels were slightly elevated. In the second year of 8 cases, CMV-DNA viruria was detected in all of them and sensorineural hearing loss was detected in one infant.Conclusion: The cCMV infection rate is 0.87% in a population with high maternal seropositivity. When diagnosing cCMV , saliva may give false-positive results and urine should be tested. Bilirubin levels may not be as high as expected in cCMV cases in highly seroimmune populations and sequelaes may occur in the following years.