Visual Impairment and Deafness in Young Children: Consider the Diagnosis of Congenital Infection With Cytomegalovirus, Even Years After Birth

To differentiate between a congenitally and postnatally acquired CMV infection, the Guthrie card (containing neonatal dried blood drawn within 7 days after birth and used for the screening of inborn errors of metabolism) was retrieved (with the parents' permission) from the regional screening center. In one study up to 22% of patients with symptomatic congenital CMV infection developed chorioretinitis or optic atrophy and in most cases bilaterally.3 Conversely, during a 5-year follow-up in a longitudinal study that included 445 children with congenital CMV, ocular defects were found in only 7% of children who were asymptomatic at birth.4 In all of the cases visual impairment was associated with optic atrophy, macular scars (chorioretinitis), or cortical damage.