Caroline Star and her daughter Parisa (4), Kam and their one-year-old Roxana Caroline Star sailed through her first pregnancy without even catching a cold. But when her baby daughter Parisa was just a week old, Caroline discovered her pregnancy hadn't been as smooth as she had thought. In fact, while she was still expecting, Caroline had caught a little-known but common virus, cytomegalovirus (CMV). This is harmless for the majority of adults and children and causes only mild, cold-like symptoms, if any. But if women catch it for the first time during pregnancy, it can be passed to unborn babies, with potentially devastating consequences.
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Caroline Star, 37, from Whitechapel, had cytomegalovirus while pregnant
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Believes she caught CMV after looking after her friends' infants
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Now her daughter Parisa, four, has profound sensorineural hearing loss
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Caroline, 37, had no idea until her daughter was eight weeks old that she had been infected - and that @placeholder was deaf as a result.
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Caroline contracted the CMV virus during her pregnancy with @placeholder and now Parisa has severe hearing loss
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Caroline contracted the CMV virus during her pregnancy with Parisa and now @placeholder has severe hearing loss
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'I felt guilty @placeholder was affected by a virus I'd caught.
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It was only when @placeholder failed a standard hearing test given to newborns that her mum knew there was a problem.
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CMV
'I was told about numerous conditions while pregnant but @placeholder was never mentioned,' says Lisa.