Monday, February 15, 2016

Referral: Two Zika Blogs By Mackay












# 11,016


Dr. Ian Mackay has been busy overnight, posting two blogs on the (as yet incomplete) investigation into the link between maternal Zika virus infection and the apparent rise in microcephalic births in Brazil.

Zika is currently at the top of the suspect list, and may well be found to be the cause of these congenital birth defects, but there are still a lot of questions that need answers.  

First Ian discusses the pathology of Zika infection, discusses the difficulties in tying microcephalic births to maternal infection, and then offers a game of (at least) 20 questions on the role of the Zika virus in:

Zika virus: pathology, postulates and questions...


And in a second post, Ian looks at the evidence (or rather, the lack thereof) supporting the rapidly spreading internet theory that a larvacide - not Zika - is responsible for Brazil's microcephaly outbreak. 
Debugging the recent claim that Pyriproxyfen is the cause of microcephaly in Brazil...

As always, highly recommended. 



I blogged on this larvacide theory on Saturday, in Brazil: The MOH Addresses The Larvacide Debate, and could find very little - beyond the timing of the introduction of Pyriproxyfen to Brazil - to support the idea.