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As the number of newborns with microcephaly has increased alarmingly in South America, doctors in Argentina and Brazil are questioning the Zika virus and pointing the finger at another culprit: an insecticide manufactured by a Monsanto subsidiary and used against mosquitoes that carry dengue fever.
For the past few months, in South America, and particularly in Brazil, babies have been born with very serious cranial and cerebral malformations resulting in incurable mental retardation.
The increase in the number of cases alarmed international health authorities, and a culprit was identified: the Zika virus , transmitted by the bite of certain mosquitoes. A pregnant woman bitten (early in pregnancy) by a mosquito carrying the virus would run the risk of giving birth to a malformed baby.
But researchers in Argentina and Brazil are challenging this explanation: the very serious malformations of the newborns would be due to the mother's consumption of drinking water treated with an insecticide, called pyriproxyfen , intended to eradicate dengue fever.
"The detection of thousands of cases of birth defects in children whose pregnant mothers lived in areas where the Brazilian government added pyriproxifen to the drinking water is not a coincidence, although the Ministry of Health blames the Zika virus for these damages," according to these researchers.
Pyriproxyfen is an insecticide recommended by the WHO in the fight against the tiger mosquito : it blocks the growth of mosquito larvae, renders them sterile or kills them.
The researchers also note that the Zika, known since the 50s, is a relatively benign disease, often asymptomatic, and that so far no cases of congenital malformations have been reported, while in some areas 75% of the population is infected.
However, between October 2015 and February 2016, 4500 case of microcephaly have been listed for Brazil alone, where the insecticide is used for 18 months, while no cases have been reported in Colombia, where the virus Zika is present, but where the pyriproxifen is not used …
On the other hand, "on 404 microcephaly In Brazil, only 17 (4,2%) were positive for the virus Zika".
A Brazilian scientific association , Abrasco , agrees with the researchers' conclusions on the probable responsibility of the insecticide in the birth defects affecting South America , especially since, according to them, mosquito control methods using chemicals pollute the environment, contaminate people, but do not reduce the number of insects.
No study currently demonstrates the role of the virus Zika in the appearance of microcephaly, and we will have to wait a few more weeks for scientific proof to perhaps be provided.
But here again, the question will remain: even if the presence of the virus Zika is demonstrated in certain cases of microcephaly, can we be certain that it is indeed he who is the cause of the malformations?
source: Paris Match
Read the report of the Abrasco association
What are the effects of pyiproxyfen?
Photo credit: Pregnancy – Newborn baby head circumference – rafael Ben-Ari – Fotolia.com
