Dear CMV Advocates:
I have some good news that should affect every state in the United States because it helps raise awareness of CMV through child care centers, which in turn should raise awareness among the pregnant moms who use them: “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 and Magnusson, 2016).
According to OSHA , any child care provider who is required to render first aid as part of their job must be educated on CMV through the "bloodborne pathogen" training required through their employers! Although most CMV is transmitted through saliva and urine, because it is also a bloodborne pathogen, then training is required, which also includes the proper handling of other bodily fluids.
For example, nurses do not contract CMV more than the regular population, and that is because they receive bloodborne pathogen training (even though they may not have heard of CMV, they are taught how to handle blood and all the bodily fluids).
"The risk of CMV infection in hospital workers is not greater than it is in others in the community and is probably low because of careful hand washing practices. In daycare centers, where hand washing practices may not be as good, there may be a greater risk of infection" (https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/cytomegalovirus/fact_sheet.htm).
"The slow rate of acquisition of CMV in susceptible adults suggests that transmission requires prolonged, intimate contact. Nurses and nursing students who practice good personal hygiene are no more likely to acquire CMV than their peers in the community" (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/362545).
While OSHA’s current Bloodborne Pathogens page (https://www.osha.gov/
The significance of having OSHA add CMV to the Bloodborne Pathogen Standard:
- Standard requires annual training
- Workers must be trained on CMV – they are guaranteed to hear about it
- Standard requires employers to evaluate routes of exposure and provide hazard reduction methods'.
If you want to make sure your state is training caregivers/teachers, the following is an email I just sent to New York's Office of Children and Families:
Dear Office of Children and Families:
I wanted to make sure you are aware that OSHA says that any child care provider who is required to render first aid as part of their job duties must be educated about cytomegalovirus (CMV) through the "bloodborne pathogen" training required from employers.
While OSHA’s current Bloodborne Pathogens page (https://www.osha.gov/
Because CMV can also spread through blood, “Child care workers who are designated as responsible for rendering first aid” are covered by OSHA’s Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, the “regulation that prescribes safeguards to protect workers against health hazards related to bloodborne pathogens...imposes requirements on employers of workers who may be exposed to blood or other potentially infectious materials such as certain tissues and body fluids.”
More information on OSHA and CMV:
- Cytomegalovirus: Hazard Recognition: https://www.osha.
gov/cytomegalovirus/hazards
- Bloodborne Pathogens and Needlestick Prevention: https://www.osha.
gov/bloodborne-pathogens/ standards
- Regarding childcare providers and their coverage under the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, two previously published "Letters of Interpretation" address this question and make clear that childcare providers, if they are required to render first aid, are covered by the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard. Read the following Letters of Interpretation for more information:
Thanks for all you do!
Lisa Saunders
P.S. If interested, here is my latest TV interview about raising awareness of CMV in New York: https://youtu.be/t-
