Blog

How Doctors Can Support a Mom Whose Child is Diagnosed with Congenital CMV

Author: Lisa Saunders Lisa Saunders is the mother of Elizabeth, who was born severely impacted by congenital CMV in 1989 and died in 2006. Although Lisa was a licensed, in-home childcare provider, a church nursery volunteer and the mother of a toddler, she was unaware of CMV and her increased risk. Lisa helped pass CMV legislation in both Connecticut and New York, and was the recipient of the National CMV Foundation Spirit of Advocacy Award in 2023. In this blog post, Lisa discusses ways doctors can help support moms whose children are diagnosed with cCMV.

CCMV Public Health and Policy Conference Series: CCMV and Autism Spectrum Disorder

Author: Dr. Megan Pesch In October of 2023, researchers, clinicians, and families from around the world gathered in Salt Lake City, Utah for the Congenital CMV Public Health and Policy Conference. It was an exciting three-and-a-half days-- jam-packed with presentations about the latest clinical practices and research findings, as well as congenital CMV families sharing their experiences and lessons learned from their own journeys. This series highlights some of the presenters and their work featured at the conference, to share with our NCMVF community. In this installment, we learn about the relationship between congenital CMV and Autism Spectrum Disorder.  

CCMV Public Health and Policy Conference Series: Pediatric Vestibular Dysfunction

Author: Dr. Megan Pesch In October of 2023, researchers, clinicians and families from around the world gathered in Salt Lake City, Utah for the Congenital CMV Public Health and Policy Conference. It was an exciting three-and-a-half days-- jam packed with presentations about the latest clinical practices and research findings, as well as congenital CMV families sharing their experiences and lessons learned from their own journeys. This series highlights some of the presenters and their work featured at the conference, to share with our NCMVF community. In this installment, Dr. Karen Hendrick and Margot Gray answer questions about pediatric vestibular dysfunction.

CCMV Public Health and Policy Conference Series: Standardized Case Definitions for Congenital CMV

Author: Dr. Megan Pesch In October of 2023, researchers, clinicians and families from around the world gathered in Salt Lake City, Utah for the Congenital CMV Public Health and Policy Conference. It was an exciting three-and-a-half days-- jam packed with presentations about the latest clinical practices and research findings, as well as congenital CMV families sharing their experiences and lessons learned from their own journeys. This series highlights some of the presenters and their work featured at the conference, to share with our NCMVF community. In this installment, we discuss the creation of standard case definitions for congenital CMV.  

Q&A with Mama Hu Hears

We had a chance to chat with Michelle Hu. Aud, Pediatric Audiologist. Michelle has turned her love for all things hearing and personal experience with hearing loss into an online presence for educating parents and professionals - Mama Hu Hears. Michelle shares her clinical perspective and experience with congenital CMV related hearing loss.

Early Career Research Award Update: Dr. Maria Talavera-Barber

Dr. Talavera-Barber, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine, was a 2019 recipient of a National CMV Foundation Early Career Research Award. In this blog post, she discusses the impact of her research on CMV antibody levels in pregnant women and newborns.

Update: cCMV Nomination for the Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP)

The most recent update about our nomination for congenital CMV (cCMV) for inclusion on the Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP) by the Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children (ACHDNC) by Megan Pesch, MD, MS, FAAP, President-Elect National CMV Foundation. 

Newborn Screening and Congenital CMV

Author: Patrick Fleming, M.D. Candidate Early detection of congenital CMV infection in newborns is essential to providing the best possible care. Unfortunately, cCMV is not yet included in universal newborn screening (NBS) programs in the United States. Read more to learn about the history of NBS as it relates to congenital CMV.

Late-Onset Hearing Loss Awareness

Author: Diana Hanson, MS CCC-A Late Onset Hearing Loss (LOHL) is hearing loss that follows a passed newborn hearing screening up until age 5-6 years. LOHL Awareness Week was established in May 2021 to shine a spotlight on a population of young children who are often undiagnosed until later in childhood.

COVID-19 Vaccine in Children With Disabilities and Complex Healthcare Needs

Author: Dr. Kathleen Muldoon & Dr. Megan Pesch The kid-sized Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was recently authorized for children 5 to 11 years of age. 28 million children are now eligible for vaccination, including approximately 1 in 6 children with a developmental disability. [1]  Recent statistics show why pediatricians and infectious disease experts at the National CMV Foundation support the vaccine for younger children, including for children with disabilities.