CALL TO ACTION - Senate Appropriations Subcommittee discussion of CMV

CALL TO ACTION - Senate Appropriations Subcommittee discussion of CMV

For the past few days and weeks, countless families and supporters within the CMV community have been noting the striking similarities between the Zika virus and CMV… and we aren’t alone. The media has been really catching onto the similarities between these two viruses, which you can read about in the following articles online:

• Quartz “The CMV virus causes microcephaly in babies, and it’s much wider spread than Zika" 
• Slate “How Scary Is Zika for Pregnant Women?” 
• NY Times "Scientists Investigate How Viruses Like Zika Cause Birth Defects” 
• PBS NewsHour "How does Zika virus shrink a baby’s brain and other FAQs”

On Thursday February 11th, the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the United State Senate Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing entitled "Emerging Health Threats and the Zika Supplemental Funding Request". Testifying at this hearing will be Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). 
 
According to the CDC, CMV is an epidemic of great proportion, citing that "approximately 30,000 children are born with congenital CMV" annually in the United States and that “1 in 150 children is born with congenital CMV infection”. Of that statistic, one in every five children born with congenital CMV will develop permanent health problems (roughly 5,000+ children) with as many as 400 infant and child deaths annually. This is startling, in contrast, to a statement on the CDC’s website stating that Zika is transmitted “rarely, from mother to child".
 
The National CMV Foundation supports any research and/or funding that has the potential to prevent pain and suffering (whether from Zika or CMV), but we believe that questions should be asked of Drs. Frieden and Fauci as to what their organizations are doing to address more prevalent and common viral causes of birth defects and developmental disabilities, most notably congenital CMV. 

Please save the graphic below and post to the official Facebook page or tweet to the offical Twitter account for each of the Subcommittee members listed below. Along with this graphic, please be sure to mention your connection to CMV and microcephaly (if it applies) and thank the Senator for their engagement on this important issue. You can also post a link to this blog posting for the Senator's review:  https://www.nationalcmv.org/resources/blog/february-2016/call-to-action-senate-appropriations-subcommitte.aspx

MS - Cochran, Thad - Twitter 
AL - Shelby, Richard - Facebook - Twitter
TN - Alexander, Lamar - Facebook - Twitter
SC - Graham, Lindsey - Facebook - Twitter
IL - Kirk, Mark - Facebook - Twitter
MO - Blunt, Roy - Facebook - Twitter
KS - Moran, Jerry - Twitter 
WV - Capito, Shelley Moore - Facebook - Twitter
LA - Cassidy, Bill - Twitter 
OK - Lankford, James - Facebook - Twitter
MD - Mikulski, Barbara - Facebook - Twitter
WA - Murray, Patty - Twitter 
IL - Durbin, Richard - Facebook - Twitter
RI - Reed, Jack - Facebook - Twitter
NH - Shaheen, Jeanne - Facebook - Twitter
OR - Merkley, Jeff - Facebook - Twitter
HI - Schatz, Brian - Facebook - Twitter
WI - Baldwin, Tammy - Facebook - Twitter

Thank you for your action and support with this important, timely message. With your help, National CMV hopes to foster positive and productive communication between members of the Approrpriations Subcommittee and Dr. Frieden so that everyone can better understand the public health threat that congenital CMV poses to pregnant women and their babies within the United States.