DNA Test Misses Virus That Causes Hearing Loss

New research shows that testing DNA in blood samples routinely collected from newborns is not an effective way to detect cytomegalovirus (CMV), an infection that's a major cause of hearing loss in children.

Dried blood spots (DBS) are collected from all infants born in the United States to conduct metabolic screening. Since these blood samples are readily available, there is great interest in using a DNA test called polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to test for CMV.\

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