One shot, knocked down, and suddenly deaf?

I was knocked to the ground by someone, and then I couldn’t hear; I had a high fever, I was injected with antibiotics, and then I suddenly became deaf There will be such “accidents” in life. However, these are all caused by genetic defects of deafness.

Hearing impairment (deafness) is a common birth defect, which ranks first among all kinds of disabilities in China. But not all deafness will show up immediately after birth. Some hearing loss (deafness) caused by gene inheritance and mutation will show up slowly with the growth of age. If this part of population intervenes early, it can avoid the tragedy of hearing impairment.

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According to Li Zhen’an, deputy chief physician of Ophthalmology, otolaryngology department of Foshan maternal and child health care hospital, hearing screening is generally carried out three days after the birth of the newborn, but the routine hearing screening can only check the hearing of the newborn at that time through physical methods, only the deaf children born with congenital deafness can be screened, and the children with delayed and drug sensitive deafness cannot be screened.

Li Zhen’an introduced that in clinical practice, he once received such a case. A 7-year-old boy was born with no problem in hearing screening. He was knocked down by his classmates when playing ball, which led to hearing loss. At that time, his parents didn’t care about it. Later, his hearing was further reduced due to cold, fever and hearing loss. After the deafness gene test, he was diagnosed as grand vestibular aqueduct syndrome. “If this boy carries on the deaf gene examination early, avoids to engage in the intense movement, protects the hearing, can prevent the deaf completely the occurrence.”

Timely detection of deafness gene can also prevent and treat drug-induced deafness in early stage. “If the deafness susceptibility gene is found to be positive, it may not always cause disease, but early warning can be carried out, especially for drug-induced deafness gene carriers, the aminoglycoside drugs such as streptomycin must be banned for life, otherwise it is likely to cause ‘one shot deafness’.” Li Zhenan said.

The children of Xiao Fang and his wife were born prematurely at 31 weeks, and their hearing screening failed. “The couple’s hearing is normal, but it doesn’t mean that the child’s hearing is no problem. The premature birth of the child is a high-risk child. In addition to the genetic test, the hearing test should be carried out once or twice a year, and it should last until the age of 6.” According to statistics, an average of 5-6 people in every 100 Chinese will carry deafness gene defects, and these carriers generally do not show deafness symptoms. However, once the hearing normal carriers get married and have children, their babies are 25% likely to inherit these genetic defects to their parents, which has the risk of deafness. The detection of deafness gene can determine whether the newborn has the defect of deafness gene, and intervene and treat the high-risk population.

Deafness gene detection can achieve:

● quickly detect whether the subjects carry the gene mutation of deafness

● determine the genetic pattern of deafness gene and calculate the risk of recurrence

● assess the risk of illness and carrying of family members

● guide scientific marriage and childbirth to prevent birth defects due to deafness