Brazilian authorities are on their toes as the Olympic Games approach, scheduled for next August. Already 220,000 soldiers are deployed on the ground with the aim of raising public awareness of the risk of contamination of the Zika virus transmitted by the Aedes-type tiger mosquito. While Brazil is the country most affected by this epidemic, which has already infected 1.5 million people, a Latin American report comes to throw trouble on the origin of cases of microcephaly observed in infants. According to Argentinian and Brazilian doctors, the link between the Zika virus and this congenital malformation of the skull is not obvious. They suspect pyriproxifen, an insecticide manufactured by a “strategic” partner of Monsanto, and used to inhibit the growth of mosquito larvae, to be the real culprit in the occurrence of microcephaly cases.
“The detection of thousands of cases of birth defects in children whose pregnant mothers live in areas where the Brazilian government has added pyriproxifen to drinking water is not a coincidence, although the ministry of Health blames the Zika virus in this damage “, commented the doctors, in The report unveiled by Paris Match.
Disturbing coincidences?
This chemical is recommended by the World Health Organization to combat the dengue virus, also carried by the tiger mosquito. According to the report, the use of this insecticide for 18 months in Brazil coincides with the occurrence of cases of microcephaly. “The areas where there are the most cases of microcephaly correspond to areas where larvicides have been used for 18 months”, points the document. In addition, “out of 404 microcephaly in Brazil, only 17 (4.2%) were positive [au] Zika virus “, note the researchers.
Are microcephaly cases attributable to Zika or to an insecticide? One thing is certain: the debate should not end with the spread of the virus.
To read also: Our file on the Zika virus
New modes of transmission of Zika
A case of sexual transmission in Texas
A site that gives you the risk of contracting the virus
