Teissier Natacha

Biography

General Secretary YO-IFOS, Pediatric ENT Department, Robert Debré Hospital, Paris, France Professor Natacha Teissier has been practicing pediatric ENT in Robert Debré Hospital in Paris since 2004. She is specially trained in all forms of paediatric otolaryngology and rhinology but is particularly interested in otological surgery and facial clefts. She is currently involved in coordinating the multi-specialty follow-up of children with congenital CMV infection, and specially the ENT aspects. Since 2008, she has been doing research on the neurosensory sequelae in congenital CMV infection. Based on data acquired both on human specimens and on a murine model, she has contributed to understanding the pathophysiological mechanisms of hearing loss and vestibular disorders due to this viral infection. She is now also working on assessing olfactory deficits in congenitally infected children.

Keynote Lecture Abstract

Olfactory function in congenital cytomegalovirus infection: a prospective study

Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection leads to olfactory bulb lesions in the fetus, yet little is known about its impact on olfaction after birth. In a prospective study conducted on children in two French hospitals from 2016 to 2019, we assessed infection severity and olfactory performance after congenital CMV infection. Children with congenital CMV infection aged 3 to 10 years and healthy controls (CTL) matched for age and sex to CMV children symptomatic at birth (sCMV) were enrolled. Olfactory discrimination was assessed using mono-odorants and binary mixtures. Data were analyzed for 54 children with PCR-confirmed congenital CMV infection, including 34 sCMV and 20 CMV asymptomatic at birth. sCMV were compared to 34 CTL children. Olfactory scores in CMV-infected children were independent from vestibular deficit and hearing loss. For children >6 years, the proportion of children with olfactory dysfunction (total score <4) differed between sCMV and CTL groups (91.2% and 18.7%, P <0.001), but not between aCMV and age-matched healthy control groups.  Congenital CMV infection is associated with olfactory dysfunction in children symptomatic at birth.