Ask Your Rep. to Stop #1 Birth Defects Virus: Pass HB5147

Good news Connecticut residents! The cytomegalovirus (CMV) education bill (HB 5147)bill is now being prepared for the House and Senate to be voted on. If you have a moment, please call/email your representative and senator asking them to pass cytomegalovirus (CMV) education bill (HB 5147). This is how you and any of your CT friends (on Facebook or anywhere!) can find out who your Representative is: http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/menu/CGAFindLeg.asp.

Also, click here to find your senator: http://www.senatedems.ct.gov/find/findlegislator.asp

Perhaps you should also write to CT's US senators found at:

Blumenthal, Richard - (D - CT)	Class III
724 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510
(202) 224-2823
Contact: www.blumenthal.senate.gov/contact/
Murphy, Christopher - (D - CT)	Class I
303 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510
(202) 224-4041
Contact: www.murphy.senate.gov/contact

Sample letter to your Representatives:


Connecticut is now proposing House Bill 5147, which includes CMV (cytomegalovirus) education. CMV is the #1 birth defects virus, which causes more disabilities than Down syndrome, yet most women don’t know how to prevent it.

Please join others, such as this Yale professor and other medical professionals, and parents who want House Bill 5147 to pass. It's similar to the CMV education bill passed in Utah.   

This is needed because less than half of OB/GYNs surveyed said they counseled their patients on how to prevent CMV infection, despite these U.S. statistics from the CDC:

•Congenital CMV causes one child to become disabled every hour.

•About 1 in 150 children is born with congenital CMV infection each year (approximately 30,000).

OB/GYNs didn’t tell one Mystic, Conn., mother, Lisa Saunders, how to prevent CMV until after her daughter Elizabeth was born. Then she learned those working in daycare, or have a child in daycare, are at a higher risk for catching it as preschoolers are the majority of carriers. Mothers must wash their hands after handling toys and should not kiss their toddlers around the mouth.  When Lisa was pregnant, she had a toddler plus ran a licensed daycare center. In milder cases, children may lose hearing or struggle with learning. But Elizabeth's case was not a mild one. She died at 16.

Lisa Saunders is the Congenital CMV Foundation parent representative and author of Anything But a Dog! The perfect pet for a girl with congenital CMV.

Sincerely,

Your name
address