Caregivers and teachers are also at risk

Thank you for highlighting the preventable yet little-known leading viral cause of birth defects, cytomegalovirus, in Megan Nix’s Ideas essay. In addition to pregnant mothers of toddlers, caregivers and teachers also are largely unaware of their increased risk for CMV despite the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recognizing the virus as an occupational hazard to child-care workers.

I am a former licensed in-home child-care provider, and I was unaware of my occupational risk for CMV, and how to reduce that risk, until it was too late to help my newborn. When my daughter Elizabeth was born with a severely damaged brain from congenital CMV, I was given information about the virus that stated that those who care for young children are at increased risk. My head spun — I thought I lived in a country that told its workers about their occupational hazards. Elizabeth had hearing loss, blindness, mental challenges, cerebral palsy, and epilepsy. She died after a seizure in 2006 at the age of 16.

Between 8 percent and 20 percent of child-care providers contract CMV every year, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, as compared with 1 percent to 4 percent of women in the general population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I have tried for more than 30 years to raise awareness of CMV. It will take major media attention and laws to ensure that pregnant women learn the truth about CMV.

LISA SAUNDERS

Baldwinsville, N.Y.