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Viruses
Special Issues
Long-Term Developmental Outcomes of Congenital Virus Infections
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Long-Term Developmental Outcomes of Congenital Virus Infections

A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Human Virology and Viral Diseases".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 5212

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Patrick Gérardin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
INSERM CIC1410 Clinical Epidemiology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de la Réunion, 97410 Saint Pierre La Réunion, France
Interests: infectious diseases epidemiology; pediatric infectious diseases; perinatal medicine; congenital virus infections; neuro-infections; encephalitis; arboviruses; chikungunya; zika; dengue; neurodevelopment
Dr. Raphaelle Sarton

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Pediatrics, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de la Réunion, 97410 Saint Pierre La Réunion, France
Interests: pediatric infectious diseases; perinatal medicine; congenital virus infections; encephalitis; chikungunya; neurodevelopment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Congenital virus infections cause harm to the fetus and may lead to a broad spectrum of lifelong complications ranging from embryofetopathies with overt disabling malformations to subtle neurocognitive and behavioral impairments. In this framework, while the short-term accountability of congenital virus infections on developmental outcomes has been widely described and acknowledged in cohorts of preschool children, their long-term impact remains elusive given both the many acquired confounders likely to influence prognosis and the potential for selection bias due to cohort attrition. In this Special Issue, we will consider primarily research articles reporting observational studies focused on long-term developmental outcomes observed among school-age children, teens, and young adults, including growth, neurodevelopment impairments and socialization behavior-related issues. The list of pathogens of interest is wide and encompasses those included in the TORCHZ acronym, of which cytomegalovirus, rubella, and Zika viruses but also enteroviruses/parechoviruses and other arboviruses (West Nile, chikungunya). Systematic reviews and meta-analyses or high-quality expert reviews are also welcome. Study designs and methods intended to control or mitigate selection bias (weighting), as well as those intended to control confusion bias (randomization, propensity score matching) or those aiming at providing causal arguments (omics, mechanistic studies) linking virus exposure to the developmental outcomes are encouraged.

Dr. Patrick Gérardin
Dr. Raphaelle Sarton
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • congenital virus infection
  • cohort studies
  • developmental outcomes
  • neurodevelopment

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 762 KiB  
Article
Perinatal Mother-to-Child Chikungunya Virus Infection: Screening of Cognitive and Learning Difficulties in a Follow-Up Study of the Chimere Cohort on Reunion Island
by Raphaëlle Sarton, Magali Carbonnier, Stéphanie Robin, Duksha Ramful, Sylvain Sampériz, Pascale Gauthier, Marc Bintner, Brahim Boumahni and Patrick Gérardin
Viruses 2025, 17(5), 704; https://doi.org/10.3390/v17050704 - 14 May 2025
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Abstract
In this cohort study, we evaluated the cognitive and learning difficulties of school-age children perinatally infected with Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) on Reunion Island using the Evaluation of Cognitive Functions and Learning in Children (EDA) battery screening test compared to the healthy children cohort [...] Read more.
In this cohort study, we evaluated the cognitive and learning difficulties of school-age children perinatally infected with Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) on Reunion Island using the Evaluation of Cognitive Functions and Learning in Children (EDA) battery screening test compared to the healthy children cohort used for EDA development. Of the 19 infected children, 11 (57.9%) exhibited subnormal or abnormal scores, of whom 3 were classified as high risk, and 8 were classified as at risk for cognitive and learning difficulties. Children who had encephalopathy were at higher risk for displaying at least one difficulty than non-encephalopathic children (relative risk 2.13; 95% CI 1.05–4.33). The difficulties observed affected verbal functions, non-verbal functions, and learning abilities, such as phonology, lexical evocation and comprehension, graphism, selective visual attention, planning, visual–spatial reasoning, dictation and mathematics, as well as core executive functions, such as inhibitory control, shifting, and working memory. Neurocognitive dysfunctions could be linked to severe brain damage, as evidenced by severe white matter reduction mainly in the frontal lobes and corpus callosum and potentially in all functional networks involved in difficulties. These results should motivate further investigation of intellectual and adaptive functioning to diagnose intellectual deficiency and severe maladaptive behaviour in children perinatally infected with Chikungunya virus. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Long-Term Developmental Outcomes of Congenital Virus Infections)
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15 pages, 2290 KiB  
Article
Sociodemographic and Clinical Factors for Microcephaly Secondary to Teratogenic Infections in Brazil: An Ecological Study
by Arlison Pereira Ferreira, Davi Silva Santana, Eric Renato Lima Figueiredo, Marcelo Coelho Simões, Dionei Freitas de Morais, Victória Brioso Tavares, Juliana Gonçalves de Sousa, Marcos Jessé Abrahão Silva, Fabiana de Campos Gomes and João Simão de Melo Neto
Viruses 2023, 15(8), 1675; https://doi.org/10.3390/v15081675 - 31 Jul 2023
Viewed by 1675
Abstract
Microcephaly is a neurological condition characterized by anomalies in the growth of the cranial circumference. This study aims to examine the association between sociodemographic and clinical variables and the occurrence of secondary microcephaly in newborns in Brazil. It also aims to investigate the [...] Read more.
Microcephaly is a neurological condition characterized by anomalies in the growth of the cranial circumference. This study aims to examine the association between sociodemographic and clinical variables and the occurrence of secondary microcephaly in newborns in Brazil. It also aims to investigate the association between this congenital anomaly and teratogenic infections. This research adopts an observational approach with an ecological, descriptive, and analytical design. The sample includes infants aged ≤28 days and registered in the country’s Live Births Information System from January 2015 to December 2021. Newborns were categorized into G1, consisting of newborns with one of the three infections (Zika, toxoplasmosis, or syphilis), and G2, consisting of newborns with two of the three infections. A total of 1513 samples were analyzed and divided into two groups: one infection (syphilis n = 423; toxoplasmosis n = 295; or Zika n = 739) and two infections (n = 56). The northeastern region of Brazil has the highest prevalence of microcephaly. Regarding the population profile, the Zika virus infection is more common among white mothers, while the syphilis infection is more common among black mothers. Among newborns with microcephaly, boys have a lower prevalence of toxoplasmosis infection, while girls have a lower prevalence of Zika virus infection. This study provides pertinent information on each infection and contributes to the epidemiologic understanding of the association between teratogenic infections and microcephaly. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Long-Term Developmental Outcomes of Congenital Virus Infections)
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20 pages, 811 KiB  
Article
Does Intra-Uterine Exposure to the Zika Virus Increase Risks of Cognitive Delay at Preschool Ages? Findings from a Zika-Exposed Cohort from Grenada, West Indies
by Michelle Fernandes, Roberta Evans, Mira Cheng, Barbara Landon, Trevor Noël, Calum Macpherson, Nikita Cudjoe, Kemi S. Burgen, Randall Waechter, A. Desiree LaBeaud and Karen Blackmon
Viruses 2023, 15(6), 1290; https://doi.org/10.3390/v15061290 - 30 May 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2586
Abstract
Maternal infection with Zika virus (ZIKV) is associated with a distinct pattern of birth defects, known as congenital Zika syndrome (CZS). In ZIKV-exposed children without CZS, it is often unclear whether they were protected from in utero infection and neurotropism. Early neurodevelopmental assessment [...] Read more.
Maternal infection with Zika virus (ZIKV) is associated with a distinct pattern of birth defects, known as congenital Zika syndrome (CZS). In ZIKV-exposed children without CZS, it is often unclear whether they were protected from in utero infection and neurotropism. Early neurodevelopmental assessment is essential for detecting neurodevelopmental delays (NDDs) and prioritizing at-risk children for early intervention. We compared neurodevelopmental outcomes between ZIKV-exposed and unexposed children at 1, 3 and 4 years to assess exposure-associated NDD risk. A total of 384 mother–child dyads were enrolled during a period of active ZIKV transmission (2016–2017) in Grenada, West Indies. Exposure status was based on laboratory assessment of prenatal and postnatal maternal serum. Neurodevelopment was assessed using the Oxford Neurodevelopment Assessment, the NEPSY® Second Edition and Cardiff Vision Tests, at 12 (n = 66), 36 (n = 58) and 48 (n = 59) months, respectively. There were no differences in NDD rates or vision scores between ZIKV-exposed and unexposed children. Rates of microcephaly at birth (0.88% vs. 0.83%, p = 0.81), and childhood stunting and wasting did not differ between groups. Our results show that Grenadian ZIKV-exposed children, the majority of whom were without microcephaly, had similar neurodevelopmental outcomes to unexposed controls up to at least an age of 4 years. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Long-Term Developmental Outcomes of Congenital Virus Infections)
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