Press Release, CT General Assembly

March 6, 2023: Veteran WTNH-TV Channel 8 news journalist Ann Nyberg joined state Senator Christine Cohen (D-Guilford) to testify before the legislature's Public Health Committee in support of a bill that would require Connecticut to promote informational materials online about the cytomegalovirus (CMV) so parents and health care providers can be more aware of its symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment.

Most healthy adults who are infected with CMV experience no symptoms, but newborns who become infected during birth or shortly afterward can suffer from a variety of serious health ailments, including deafness, developmental delays, jaundice, an enlarged and poorly functioning liver, an abnormally small head (microencephaly), enlarged spleen, pneumonia, and seizures.

Ms. Nyberg – who is a constituent of Sen. Cohen's – testified that her third grandchild born in November 2022 is profoundly deaf due to the CMV that she contracted around the time of her birth.

"If you told me five months ago that I would be sitting her at the State Capitol trying to help educate the world about something called congenital Cytomegalovirus, I would not have believed it," Nyberg told Public Health Committee members with Sen. Cohen sitting by her side.

"From the pediatrician’s office my daughter and son were told to go home, pack a bag and get immediately to the hospital for a battery of tests to see what could be wrong with her. I will never forget the look on their faces: a mom postpartum, scared to death, and a son‐in‐law who was bracing for anything coming their way. The nightmare continues for my daughter and her husband and our family, though we have settled into our new normal, rallying our strengths, through heartache, and who are now foot soldiers to help others who will get this same diagnosis."

House Bill 6821, "AN ACT CONCERNING EDUCATION REGARDING CYTOMEGALOVIRUS, " would require the state Department of Public Health to post educational materials regarding cytomegalovirus on its Internet web site. The bill is expected to have little or no financial impact on the state budget.

"CMV is the most common cause of non-hereditary hearing loss in America today," Sen. Cohen said. "I'm so proud of Ann and the nearly dozen other people who testified on the need for greater promotion of CMV facts and treatment. It’s through their personal experience, and they’re caring for others, that we will help reduce CMV infections and the devastating impact it can have on Connecticut children and their families. My hope it to not only further education around this virus and its impacts to newborns, but to ensure we are screening babies right after their birth to prevent health deterioration."

"Thanks to the advocacy of parents and healthcare providers and the good work of a bipartisan group of legislators back in 2015, Connecticut passed one of the nation's leading cytomegalovirus screening laws — which has improved the health and quality of life for hundreds of Connecticut children and their families in less than a decade," said state Rep. John-Michael Parker (D- Durham/Madison), who is House Vice-Chair of the Public Health Committee. " But as testimony at this public hearing demonstrated, there's more work to be done, on both the education and the prevention side of this, as well as the screening and early intervention aspects. I'm so grateful to Ann for her advocacy and leadership on this issue, and I look forward to making some progress this year!"

The deadline for the Public Health Committee to vote on the bill is March 29.