Connecticut Childcare
Givers
Wash Away CMV!
Moms2B
Protect your pregnancy!
Diaper
wipes do not kill CMV—this #1 birth defects virus disables 4,000 babies each
year in the U.S.
Would you like to get involved in protecting the unborn babies of child care providers?
As a result of caregivers/teachers of toddlers being at increased risk for contracting cytomegalovirus (CMV), the leading viral cause of birth defects, I am trying to get a CMV prevention education law passed in Connecticut (a CMV testing law passed in 2015, but not the prevention education part because of funds).
“Increasing risk perception is important because [child care] providers may not be concerned about taking measures to reduce the probability of infection if they feel that they are at low risk” (Thackeray et al., 2016).
If you would be in support of ensuring childcare givers know their CMV risk and how to prevent it, please let me know so I can make you aware of opportunities to express your support--either through writing a letter and/or voicing your support on my TV show and other speaking events.
“Increasing risk perception is important because [child care] providers may not be concerned about taking measures to reduce the probability of infection if they feel that they are at low risk” (Thackeray et al., 2016).
If you would be in support of ensuring childcare givers know their CMV risk and how to prevent it, please let me know so I can make you aware of opportunities to express your support--either through writing a letter and/or voicing your support on my TV show and other speaking events.
Diaper wipes do not kill CMV, the virus that disables 4,000 babies each year in the U.S. Many caregivers use diaper wipes as a short cut to sanitizing hands and surfaces.
According to the New York Times, CMV Is a Greater Threat to Infants Than Zika, but Far Less Often Discussed.
FACTS ABOUT TODDLER CHILD CARE AND CMV
· 8- 20% of child care providers contract CMV infection every year (AAP et al., 2011) versus 1-4% in general population.
· Only 18.5% of licensed “in-home” daycare providers surveyed have heard of CMV and “Providers do not know how to appropriately sanitize surfaces to reduce spread of disease.” Many use diaper wipes to clean surfaces, which do not sanitize (Thackeray et al., 2016).
I am a former licensed child care provider who was unaware of my increased risk for CMV, the danger it posed to my pregnancy, and my need to diligently practice the proven prevention measures already in place. Like me, less than 20% of child care providers in a recent survey knew about CMV and used diaper wipes to clean hands and surfaces (Thackeray et al., 2016). As you are probably aware, diaper wipes do not kill CMV (Stowell et.al, 2014). Although CMV did no harm to the toddlers in my care, my daughter Elizabeth was born severely disabled by congenital CMV and passed away at the age of 16 in 2006.
Shortly after moving to Connecticut in 2010, I received a call from a local grandmother who said her grandson was just born disabled by congenital CMV. The baby's mother had been a college student interning at a Connecticut day care center while pregnant. She, too, had not been educated about CMV and how to protect her pregnancy. When I visited the mother and baby in the hospital, the attending nurse asked me why more wasn’t being done to raise awareness of this leading viral cause of birth defects.
To learn more about CMV, see the flyer put out by the Connecticut Department of Public Health by clicking here. For specifics of CMV in child care, click on this two-sided flyer, which also includes content from the CT Dept Public Health webpage.
For policy makers/daycare directors who want to see a sample memo for child care employees and learn the "15 Reasons Child Care Providers Need to Know about CMV," click on my pamphlet: CT Child Care Providers Against CMV. If interested in having me speak to your group, click the following for my outline and talking points for a presentation on CMV in Child Care or download the pdf.
For policy makers/daycare directors who want to see a sample memo for child care employees and learn the "15 Reasons Child Care Providers Need to Know about CMV," click on my pamphlet: CT Child Care Providers Against CMV. If interested in having me speak to your group, click the following for my outline and talking points for a presentation on CMV in Child Care or download the pdf.
ChildCare Aware of America published my article, "The Danger of Spreading CMV: How We Can Protect Our Children," but there needs to be a law to ensure all child care providers learn about CMV and the recommendations made by the American Academy of Pediatrics et al., in Caring for Our Children, and NAEYC: National Association for the Education of Young Children in its "Early Childhood Program Standards and Accreditation Criteria and Guidance for Assessment (10.D.01, p.91), which" includes: "a. steps to reduce occupational hazards such as infectious diseases (e.g., exposure of pregnant staff to CMV [cytomegalovirus], chicken pox)..."
Want to learn more about why I'm seeking a law?
I have learned through years of trying to raise
CMV awareness that despite successfully interesting the media in CMV, to ensure
a real change in awareness takes a change in public policy, such as Utah’s 2013
CMV law. Its new law requires prevention education to daycare providers in
addition to all women of childbearing age. The CMV mother behind getting the
Utah law passed, Sara Menlove Doutre, an Education Policy Consultant,
states in her article, “Reducing congenital cytomegalovirus infection through
policy and legislation in the United States,” that
“Policy and legislation, backed by accurate science, are viable tools to change
behaviour to reduce congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections. Addressing CMV
through public policy can provide increased awareness among public health
officials, access to existing venues for disseminating information, and much
needed funds for awareness campaigns.”
The Utah CMV law includes the following
mandate: “…directs the Department of Health to create a public education
program to inform pregnant women and women who may become pregnant about the
occurrence of CMV, the transmission of CMV, the birth defects that CMV can
cause, methods of diagnosis, and available preventative measures; requires the Department of Health to provide this
information to: licensed child care programs and their employees…”
What are other countries doing?
Queensland, Australia, has very precise
measures in place to protect all of their childcare workers from contacting
CMV, which, in addition to infection control methods includes: “relocating workers who are pregnant, or who expect to become
pregnant, to care for children aged over two to reduce contact with urine and
saliva.”
Germany places a complete ban on seronegative
daycare providers from working with children under the age of
three. "Based on the German Maternity Protection Law
(Mutterschutzgesetz)… to protect DCWs [day care workers] from primary infection,
their CMV serostatus must be checked at the beginning of their pregnancy. When
the DCW is seronegative, she is excluded from professional activities with
children under the age of three years in order to prevent feto- or embryopathy
in her offspring." (See: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4844919/).
(You can download this flyer by clicking here).
15 Reasons Why Child Care Providers (and all women of childbearing age) Should Be Informed About Congenital CMV (includes embedded links)
(for pdf, click
here)
1) Congenital CMV is the #1 Birth Defects Virus (Carlson et al., 2010). "More children will have disabilities due to congenital CMV than other well-known infections and syndromes, including own Syndrome, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Spina Bifida, and Pediatric HIV/AIDS" (NationalCMV.org).
2) 1% of live born infants are infected prenatally with
CMV (American
Academy of Pediatrics [AAP] et al., Caring
for Our Children,
2011).
3) “Women who are exposed to CMV prior to conception
or within the first trimester of pregnancy and seroconvert have increased risk
of their infant being infected with CMV.”(Thackeray
et al., 2016).
4) CMV is an “occupational risk" for daycare
educators (Joseph,
et al., 2006). Caregivers/teachers should be told about CMV
because of increased probability of exposure (AAP
et al.. 2011).
5) General public: 1-4% is the estimated
“annual rate of a pregnant woman who is CMV antibody negative catching CMV for
the first time in pregnancy” Demmler-Harrison, MD, CMV
in Pregnancy: What Should I Know?, 2014).
6) Caregivers/teachers: 8- 20% of
caregivers/teachers contract CMV infection every year (AAP
et al.. 2011).
7) 44% to 100% of two-year-olds in group daycare are
excreting CMV (Pass
et al., 1986).
8) Only 18.5% of licensed “in-home” daycare providers
have heard of CMV according to “Child Care Provider Awareness and Prevention of
Cytomegalovirus and Other Infectious Diseases” (Thackeray
et al., 2016).
9) NAEYC: National
Association for the Education of Young Children and its
"Early Childhood Program Standards and Accreditation Criteria and Guidance
for Assessment (10.D.01,
p.91)" includes: "a. steps to reduce occupational
hazards such as infectious diseases (e.g., exposure of pregnant staff to CMV
[cytomegalovirus], chicken pox)..."
10) It is a worker's
right to know occupational hazards according to the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). There are more than half a
million child care workers (573,430) in the U.S. according to the Child
Care in America: 2016 State Fact Sheet report (pdf) published
by Child
Care Aware of America.
11) “Providers do not know how to appropriately sanitize
surfaces to reduce spread of disease.” Many providers use diaper wipes to clean
a surface. Diaper wipes do not sanitize (Thackeray
et al., 2016).
12) “Increasing risk perception is important because
providers may not be concerned about taking measures to reduce the probability
of infection if they feel that they are at low risk” (Thackeray
et al., 2016).
13) Mothers of children in daycare are also at
increased risk for CMV (Pass
et al., 1986). “61 % of children under the age of 5 are cared for in a
child care facility...Intervening with child care providers and parents
through child care facilities are key opportunities to reduce prevalence of CMV
infection and other diseases.” (Thackeray
et al., 2016).
14) $1.86 billion annually, with a cost per child of
more than $300,000, is the estimated cost of congenital CMV to the US
health care system (Modlin,
Arvin, et al., 2004).
15) The CDC "suggests that pregnant women reduce
their risk of CMV acquisition during pregnancy using simple hygienic
precautions but this suggestion is not often followed...the
efficacy of hygienic precautions has been [greater than] 75%.” (Adler,
2015). “Perhaps no single cause of birth defects and
developmental disabilities in the United States currently provides greater opportunity
for improved outcomes in more children than congenital CMV…women deserve to be
informed about how they can reduce their risk of CMV infection during
pregnancy…” (Cannon
et al., 2005).
...
Here is my One-Page CMV Fact Sheet for Policy Makers, which includes cost estimates. The Connecticut Department of Public Health, http://www.ct.gov/dph/cwp/- National CMV Foundation flyer: Are You Pregnant? (2017). Retrieved from Connecticut Department of Public Health: http://www.ct.gov/dph/lib/dph/
ehdi/ncmvf_awareness_flyer_ct_ dph.pdf - About Cytomegalovirus (CMV) FOR OBSTETRIC HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS. (2017). Retrieved from Connecticut Department of Public Health: http://www.ct.gov/dph/lib/dph/
ehdi/about_cmv_obs.pdf - About Cytomegalovirus (CMV): TESTING FOR OBSTETRIC HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS. (2017). Retrieved from Connecticut Department of Public Health: http://www.ct.gov/dph/lib/dph/
ehdi/cmv_testing_info_obs.pdf
2014: The following CMV education and testing bill passed the House, but was never brought to the Senate floor: H.B. No. 5147. (2014). Retrieved from Connecictut General Assembly : http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&bill_num=5147&which_year=2014
2015: The following CMV testing bill passed in 2015: H.B. No. 5525: An Act Concerning Cytomegalovirus. (2015). Retrieved from Connecticut General Assembly: https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&which_year=2015&bill_num=5525+
- Child Care and CMV (American Academy of Pediatrics [AAP] et al., Caring for Our Children, 2011).
- Flyers: National CMV Foundation: Click the following for simple flyers for downloading. The National CMV Foundation allowed the Connecticut Department of Public Health to include its logo in this flyer.
- Recent survey of child care providers (most have never heard of CMV).
- Study showing that diaper wipes do not kill CMV.
- Study: "In the past, the hazards facing child care workers have largely been ignored by health and safety professionals, due in part to a lack of awareness of hazards and inconsistencies in state health and safety requirements" (Bright et al., 1999).
- Rights of child care providers: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) states it is a worker's right to know occupational hazards.
- State child care licencing departments: click here.
- States with a CMV law: click here.
- Study: "Children cared for at daycare or in preschool education exhibit a two to three times greater risk of acquiring infections...control measures are indispensable to the prevention and control of infectious diseases." (Nesti et al,, 2007).
- Child with Congenital CMV in Your Childcare Center? What to tell your staff
- 15 Reasons to Tell Child Care Providers About CMV (for pdf, click here)
- Fact sheet from MotherToBaby.org on CMV includes child care providers.
- CMV prevention brochure specifically for child care providers: Utah's brochure for childcare providers.
- NAEYC: National Association for the Education of Young Children and its "Early Childhood Program Standards and Accreditation Criteria and Guidance for Assessment (10.D.01, p.91)" includes: "a. steps to reduce occupational hazards such as infectious diseases (e.g., exposure of pregnant staff to CMV [cytomegalovirus], chicken pox)..."
- UTAH WAS FIRST STATE TO PASS CMV EDUCATION AND PREVENTION LAW: H.B. 81 Second Substitute Cytomegalovirus Public Health Initiative. (2013 General Session). Retrieved from Utah State Legislature: http://le.utah.gov/~2013/bills/static/hb0081.html
- ChildCare Aware of America article, "The Danger of Spreading CMV: How We Can Protect Our Children."
