One in 1000 children is born deaf: 2 out of 3 times, this deafness is genetic, but in a third of cases it has a viral origin, most often a cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection contracted by the mother. This CMV infection concerns 0.6% of births in France.
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It is the most frequent and the most serious of the infections of the pregnancy, the first cause of non genetic deafness, since the CMV is at the origin of deafness every 2000 births. "Only children of mothers infected during the first trimester of pregnancy are at risk of hearing damage, but this risk is then 30%" , says Professor Yves Ville, obstetrician gynecologist (Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital, Paris).
It is an extremely common virus of which 80% of children in nurseries are carriers. In half of the cases, women have a primary infection, if not a reactivation of infection or an infection with a new CMV. The mother's prior immunization does not protect her from a new infection. "A
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