ZIKA VIRUS AS CAUSE OF MICROCEPHALY BIRTH DEFECT IS UNPROVEN

Brazilian health authorities have found traces of the Zika virus in ONE deceased infant born with microcephaly...JUST ONE. 

The connection remains to be proven.

SOME NEWS REPORTS ARE SAYING THE ZIKA VIRUS IS A CYTOMEGALOVIRUS, BUT IT IS NOT.

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a FLAVIVIRUS and is related to yellow fever, dengue, West Nile, and Japanese encephalitis viruses.

In 2007 ZIKV caused an outbreak of relatively MILD disease characterized by rash, arthralgia, and conjunctivitis on Yap Island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.

This was the first time that ZIKV was detected outside of Africa and Asia.

The only evidence of Zika virus transmission is from studies that detected Zika virus antibodies in healthy people.  

These studies cannot determine WHERE the people were infected or IF they were infected with Zika virus because the antibodies may have resulted from infections with OTHER closely related viruses, such as dengue virus.

Source: CDC

From the Medical University of  South Carolina:    

"WHAT ARE THE KNOWN CAUSES OF BIRTH DEFECTS?

Only 35% of birth defects have an explanation in chromosome defects, hereditary patterns, biochemical abnormalities, infectious disease, or environmental agents. The other 65% of birth defects are completely unexplained.

• Radiation - Every woman and man planning to have children should protect themselves from unnecessary radiation. The most common source is diagnostic medical and dental x-rays. Monitoring is important where workers may be exposed to radiation on the job.

Open Journal of PediatricsVol.05 No.01(2015), Article ID:54828,13 pages
10.4236/ojped.2015.51013

Changes in Congenital Anomaly Incidence in West Coast and Pacific States (USA) after Arrival of Fukushima Fallout   Joseph Mangano*, Janette D. Sherman

ABSTRACT
Radioactive fallout after the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown entered the U.S. environment within days; levels of radioactivity were particularly elevated in the five western states bordering on the Pacific Ocean. The particular sensitivity of the fetus to radiation exposure, and the ability of radioisotopes to attach to cells, tissues, and DNA raise the question of whether fetuses/newborns with birth defects with the greater exposures suffered elevated harm during the period after the meltdown.

We compare rates of five congenital anomalies for 2010 and 2011 births from April-November.
These include Anencephaly, Cleft Lip/Palate, Down Syndrome, Omphalocele/Gastroschisis, and Spina Bifida/Meningocele .

The increase of 13.00% in the five western states is significantly greater than the 3.77% decrease for all other U.S. states combined (CI 0.030 – 0.205, p < 0.008).
Consistent patterns of elevated increases are observed in the west (20 of 21 comparisons, 6 of which are statistically significant/borderline significant), by state, type of birth defect, month of birth, and month of conception.
While these five anomalies are relatively uncommon (about 7500 cases per year in the U.S.), sometimes making statistical significance difficult to achieve, the consistency of the results lend strength to the analysis, and suggest fetal harm from Fukushima may have occurred in western U.S. states.

FROM A STUDY DONE IN JAPAN AFTER THE TWO BOMBS FELL.
 
"The most common defects seen at birth (among survivors of the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki) were anencephaly, cleft palate, cleft lip with or without cleft palate, club foot, polydactyly (additional finger or toe), and syndactyly (fusion of two or more fingers or toes). These abnormalities accounted for 445 of the 594 (75%) malformed infants in Table 3." 


A SIMILAR STUDY IN THE CHERNOBYL AREA.

"Within 2-3 years it was obvious that the rates of spina bifida and other defects of the nervous system, were many times greater than expected, particularly in one province.  A few years later an excess of conjoined twins (“Siamese twins”) was found.

 They found other nervous system problems, mainly microcephaly (tiny head) ..  After 10 years of study they published a report showing an excess of frequency of anomalies of nervous system and of these conjoined twins."

A STUDY OF BIRTH DEFECT ANOMALY NEAR THE HANFORD NUCLEAR SITE.  400 % Spike in Rare Birth Defects Near Leaking Hanford Nuclear Site.

"The Washington State Health Department is trying to identify the cause of an unusually high number of rare birth defects in south central Washington, around the leaking Hanford nuclear site.
 In 2013, seven cases of anencephaly, a rare and often fatal birth defect were reported in a remote region of Washington State, clustered around the Hanford site.
 

There is still no explanation for the spike, said State Health Department officials. The seven cases reported in 2013 bring the number of reported cases in the region, which includes Yakima, Benton and Franklin, up to 30 since 2010."
VERY FEW VIRUSES CAUSE BIRTH DEFECTS, NONE KNOWN THAT SPECIFICALLY CAUSE ANENCEPHALY OR MICROCEPHALY.

German measles (RUBELLA) is one of the VERY FEW viruses which can cause serious birth defects.

FROM THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION ON CONGENITAL RUBELLA SYNDROME (CRS):

"Children with CRS can suffer hearing impairments, eye and heart defects and other lifelong disabilities, including autism, diabetes mellitus and thyroid dysfunction – many of which require costly therapy, surgeries and other expensive care."

BUT NOT MICROCEPHALY.NOT ANENCEPHALY.

The major chemicals that are known to cause birth defects are prescription medications which your doctor knows about.

These include thalidomide, isoretinoin, valporic acid, cancer chemotherapy agents and a FEW others.

THESE AND A FEW OTHER CHEMICALS ARE KNOWN TO CAUSE NEURAL TUBE DEFECTS SUCH AS MICROMEGALY ANF ANENCEPHALY.

OTHER POSSIBLE REASONS FOR SUDDEN INCREASE IN MICROCEPHALY IN BRAZIL?


High natural background radiation areas
Guarapari, Brazil

Atlantic coasts of Brazil are covered by the sand with radioactivity which came back with the wave from the sea. The radioactivity was originated from the mountains rich in zirconites and monazites along the coast.
The dosimeter indicated 5μSv/h.
Black sand showed much higher value, i.e., 131μSv/h. Usually it is below 0.1μSv/h.

http://www.taishitsu.or.jp/radiation/guarapari-e.html 

In Brazil, the monazite sand deposits are found along certain beaches. The external radiation levels on these black sands range up to 5 mrad/hr (50 µGy/hr), which is almost 400 times normal background in the US.

Some of the major streets of the surrounding cites have radiation levels as high as 0.13 mrad/hr (1.3 µGy/hr), which is more than 10 times the normal background.

Another high background area in Brazil is the result of large rare earth ore deposits that form a hill that rises about 250 meters above the surrounding area. An ore body near the top of the hill is very near the surface, and contains an estimated 30,000 tons of thorium and 100,000 tons of rare earth elements. The radiation levels near the top of the hill are 1 to 2 mrad/hr (0.01 to 0.02 mGy/hr) over an area of about 30,000 m².

The plants found there have absorbed so much ²²⁸Ra, that can will produce a self "x-ray" if placed on a sheet of photographic paper (an autoradiograph).

All water on the Earth, including seawater, has some radionuclides in it. In the following table, the oceans' volumes were calculated from the 1990 World Almanac:

• Pacific = 6.549 x 10¹⁷ m³
• Atlantic = 3.095 x 10¹⁷ m³

http://physics.isu.edu/radinf/natural.htm

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THEY DID THESE 'CALCULATIONS'?
MAYBE THEY SHOULD DO THEM AGAIN?

WILL THE "EXPERTS" EVER MENTION THESE FACTS, OR WILL THEY BLAME ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING BUT RADIATION FOR THE WORLDWIDE SPIKE IN BIRTH DEFECTS?  

LOOKS LIKE THEY FAVOR THE UNPROVEN OVER THE PROVEN CAUSES OF NEURAL TUBE BIRTH DEFECTS.

MUSN'T RISK THE NUCLEAR ENERGY INDUSTRY.
BETTER TO LET WOMEN THINK IT'S ALL A MOSQUITO'S FAULT.