Monitoring and preventing birth defects

Our programs are connected to national organizations

• The Birth Defects Program is part of the National Birth Defects and Prevention Network Inc.
• The Autism Project is part of the national group CADDRE, the Centers for Autism and Developmental Disabilities Research and Epidemiology.
• The Muscular Dystrophy Project is part of the national group MD STARNet, Muscular Dystrophy Surveillance Tracking and Research Network.
• The Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Project is part of a multistate collaborative project formed in the mid-1990s.
• Cytomegalovirus (CMV) in pregnancy is spread through:
  • Person-to-person contact (such as kissing, sexual contact, and getting saliva or urine on your hands and then touching your eyes or the inside of your nose or mouth).
  • Breast milk of an infected woman who is breast-feeding.
  • Infected pregnant women passing the virus to their unborn babies.
  • Blood transfusions and organ transplants.
• Colorado Responds to Children With Special Needs (CRCSN)is part of the National Birth Defects Prevention Network (NBDPN), a group of specialized public health reporting programs, surveillance databases and early intervention programs.
  • Each program characterizes disease prevalence and provides epidemiological information for research and preventive intervention.
  • Programs within the group include birth defects, autism, fetal alcohol syndrome, muscular dystrophy and other specialized databases.