Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common virus that causes asymptomatic or mild infection in healthy humans. In pregnant women, however, CMV can lead to infection of the baby (called a congenital infection) causing a spectrum of illness, from no symptoms to profound neurologic complications. It is the most common congenital infection, affecting 0.2 to >2% of live births. It is also the most common cause of non-genetic sensorineural hearing loss. Eleven to 13% of newborns will have symptoms from congenital CMV (cCMV) infection, and approximately half of those children will have permanent disabilities. Of the cCMV infected newborns without symptoms, at least 10-15% will later go on to develop hearing loss and/or developmental delay by 6 years old. There is an effective treatment for cCMV infection that has been proven to decrease risk of hearing loss and developmental delay; however, it is currently only indicated for infants with symptoms in the newborn period. How to define a symptomatic infant with cCMV, how best to screen newborns for cCMV, how to estimate the risk of progressing to hearing loss and developmental delay, and whether treatment is warranted in asymptomatic infants, are just a few of the many important questions about cCMV yet to be answered. This planning grant seeks to fund an in-person meeting of health care professionals and scientists from across Canada, who are involved in the diagnosis and care of children with cCMV infection. The meeting will: 1) unite researchers, clinicians (pediatric infectious disease specialists, obstetricians, audiologists, ear nose throat surgeons), and family advocates; 2) gather information on how cCMV is detected and managed at pediatric centres; and 3) allow the identification of the most pressing research questions about cCMV and how best to address them.