Etiology |
Cause / Incidence |
Vision |
Hearing |
Other |
CHARGE Syndrome |
Genetic (research is ongoing in this area) |
C for Coloboma: lesion on the eye which can impair vision depending on location; present in 75% of people |
E for ear anomalies/deafness: mild to profound mixed loss bilaterally; chronic otitis media |
H for heart disease; A for atresia; R for retarded growth; G for genital hypoplasia: genital abnormalities in males |
Usher Syndrome |
Genetic Accounts for 50% of deafblindness
3-6% of children with hearing impairments have Usher Syndrome; Types I - IV classifications are based upon the degree of sensory loss and cognitive functioning |
Night blindness usually first sympton of retinitis pigmentosa, can occur as early as preschool; visual loss often not noticed until late childhood or adolescence |
First sympton that is diagnosed; severe to moderately severe sensorineural loss, bilateral, greater loss in higher frequencies |
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Congenital Infections |
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Congenital Rubella |
Mothers infected in first 6 weeks of pregnancy have babies with 2 or 3 of the following characteristics: cataracts, deafness, severe to clinically unapparent heart disease |
Congenital cataracts are common, occur in 20-70% of infants, pigmentary retinopathy, strabismus, glaucoma |
Mild to profound sensorineural loss, unilateral or bilateral, audiograms - "belly-like" curves with greatest loss at 1,000 hz |
Cardiac defects, microencephaly, meningo-encephalitis |
Cytomegalo-virus (CMV) |
Asymptomatic infection |
Blindness at birth, progressive inflammation of eyes which can lead to blindness |
Deafness |
Microencephaly, seizures, cognitive delays |
Syphilis |
Intrauterine infection or acquired during birth with contact of lesions in birth canal |
Blindness at birth, or progressive inflammation which can lead to blindness |
Deafness |
Anemia, bone inflammation, cognitive delay, skeletal anomalies, dental abnormalities |
Toxoplasmosis |
Parasite in raw meat or kitty litter, in pregnancy parasite can cross placenta to fetus |
Blindness at birth, or progressive inflammation of eyes which can lead to blindness |
Deafness |
Microcephaly, seizures, cognitive delays |
Herpes |
Intrauterine infection contracted during passage through the birth canal of infected mother, .03 to .3 per thousand births |
Disease of the retina, or moderate to severe visual impairment |
Deafness at birth or mild to profound hearing impairment |
Microencephaly, encephalitis, seizures, cognitive delays, central nervous system damage, periodic herpes skin rash |
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Other |
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Prematurity |
Problems with vision and hearing usually only occur in babies who are born very early, at 32 weeks of pregnancy or earlier. |
Retinopathy of prematurity |
Deafness |
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