Argentine researchers blame a chemical used to fight against mosquitoes, to be potentially responsible for thousands of cases of microencéphalies, cranial malformations in newborns in South America.
What Pyriproxyfen?
He was on the front of the stage from the beginning but it was not until 18 months later that Argentine scientists interested in pyriproxyfen, an insecticide used massively in Brazil.
Pyriproxyfen, manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical Company, is an insecticide to spread in water. The product kills or prevents the breeding of mosquitoes causing deformities in larvae or adult insects. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the use in the fight against the dengue epidemic.
Insecticide in drinking water
However, this product is used extensively in South America and now it is thus found in the drinking water used by the inhabitants.
"The thousands of cases of birth defects in children of mothers living in areas where the Brazilian government pyriproxifen added to drinking water, not within a coincidence," the researchers noted.
Zika, a usually benign disease
In previous outbreaks Zika, no cases of malformation had been recorded in unborn babies. And while more than 75% of the population has been infected with the disease.
Scientists are also interested in a report ABRASCO, an association of doctors who studies Brazilian public health policies. According to this document, among 3893 cases of malformations identified in Brazil until the end of January 2016, only five children were affected by Zika virus.
There is no scientific evidence that this virus is the cause of congenital microcephaly. WHO must intervene on this issue a few weeks.
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