Quote:
Originally Posted by flip
Interesting!
I am curious if this mean we know that rubella did not cause learning disorders and specific behavior disorders while cogential CMV(herpes?) do?
Are there some specific areas of learning disorders and behavior disorders we can recognize in those deaf due to CMV, or is it accidentally?
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Rubella wasn't thought to cause any specific learning disorders or behavior disorders, but then the rubella hump was in the 1960's, and many,many LDs and BDs weren't diagnosed then. It was simply assumed that learning difficulties or behavior problems were the direct result of being deaf. We did know, however, that rubella deafness, in the majority of individuals, follows a very specific pattern. I think it is likely, if those individuals were children today, we would see that much of what was called "deaf behavior" was really some form of neurological difficulty caused by the congenital rubella exposure. In the 1960's, dyslexia was a little recognized and misunderstood disorder. Today, it is widely diagnosed, and many adults that suffered through a childhood with the disorder undiagnosed have stepped forward and said, "Yes. That is what was wrong with me! I wasn't just a stupid kid who didn't knowhow to behave in class!" The same can be held true for other LDs. It, at one time, was very acceptable to blame the child for misbehaving when the child actually had a neurological problem that needed to be addressed. And particularly so if the child was deaf. It was an easy out to blame all the child's difficulties on their deafness without looking for other possible causes for the problems.
Baylor College of Medicine offers this brief description of congential CMV exposure:
What are signs and symptoms of congenital CMV disease?
Signs and symptoms of congenital CMV infection that are observed at birth include: small head size (microcephaly), small body size, little red spots under the skin (petechiae), enlarged liver (hepatomegaly), enlarged spleen (splenomegaly), yellow color of skin and eyes (jaundice), low blood count (anemia and/or thrombocytopenia), pneumonia, seizures, abnormal muscle tone, calcium deposits in the brain (intracranial calcifications), vision loss, and hearing loss.
Although some of these conditions may resolve, many children will have life-long disabilities of varying degrees. Possible disabilities associated with congenital CMV disease are deafness, blindness, physical and motor impairment, seizure disorder, developmental differences and learning delays.