96% Microcephaly in Brazil not Related to Zika Virus

1PeaceMaker

1PeaceMaker

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There also is growing uncertainty about whether the virus and the microcephaly cases are connected. Thomas D. Williams recently wrote, “Though the Brazil Ministry of Health has registered an unusually high number of babies born with microcephaly, 96% of these cases occurred without the mothers having been infected with the Zika virus at all, which means that the cause must be sought elsewhere.”
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http://www.lifenews.com/2016/02/17/...irus-scared-to-give-birth-to-a-disabled-baby/
 
1PeaceMaker

1PeaceMaker

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http://www.foxnews.com/health/2016/...ect-may-be-too-high-health-minister-says.html

In an interview, Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria suggested the Andean nation may revise downward its projection of 500 to 600 cases of Zika-linked microcephaly, as the condition, marked by an abnormally small head, has not yet shown up in fetal ultrasounds.

That forecast would represent a fivefold spike in the number of Colombian microcephaly cases seen on average each year.

"We're doubting that figure. We're analyzing what's happening in Brazil, but between when we released the estimate and now we haven't found a single case of microcephaly," Gaviria said. "The extrapolation of Brazil's figures to Colombia, which is how we got the projection, now doesn't seem reasonable."
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Jose Fly

Jose Fly

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1PeaceMaker said:
96% of these cases occurred without the mothers having been infected with the Zika virus at all
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I had to click through numerous links to find the source of that, and finally I came to this CNN article, which states...
According to the Brazil Ministry of Health, from November 8 through January 30, 404 babies were born with microcephaly, an unusually high number. Seventeen of these cases have been linked to Zika.​
Then, someone at Breitbart read that article and...
scholar Pia de Solenni has pointed out that if only 17 of the cases could be linked to Zika, this represents a mere 4% of the total, suggesting that there must be another cause or causes to explain the higher incidence of children born with microcephaly.​
But apparently it never occurred to this "scholar" that it wasn't that all 404 babies were tested and only 17 were found to have the virus. More likely is that 17 is a subset of the babies that were actually tested, and came up with a definitive result (the test itself is still being refined). If you dig a bit further seems to be the case. You'd think a "scholar" would at least check up on that, but then this is Lifenews and Breitbart....neither of which are known for accuracy or honesty.
 
J

jeffblue101

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Jose Fly said:
But apparently it never occurred to this "scholar" that it wasn't that all 404 babies were tested and only 17 were found to have the virus. More likely is that 17 is a subset of the babies that were actually tested, and came up with a definitive result (the test itself is still being refined). If you dig a bit further seems to be the case. You'd think a "scholar" would at least check up on that, but then this is Lifenews and Breitbart....neither of which are known for accuracy or honesty.
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http://combateaedes.saude.gov.br/no...vestiga-3-448-casos-suspeitos-de-microcefalia (used google translate)

"Cumulative total of reported cases from 2015 to 2016"

The Ministry of Health and the states investigating 3,448 suspected cases of microcephaly across the country. The new report released on Wednesday (27) also points out that 270 cases have had microcephaly confirmation, and 6 with respect to the Zika virus. Other 462 reported cases have been discarded.
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only 6 confirmed or only 2.2% zika linked cases out of total 270 confirmed microcephaly cases in brazil are the official numbers. The allegedly dishonest and inaccurate Breitbart and Lifenews 1 , Jose Fly the know it all atheist 0
 
elohiym

elohiym

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Jose Fly

Jose Fly

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the Ministry of Health and the states investigating 3,448 suspected cases of microcephaly across the country. The new report released on Wednesday (27) also points out that 270 cases have had microcephaly confirmation, and 6 with respect to the Zika virus. Other 462 reported cases have been discarded.
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But the question is, what does "have been discarded" mean? Does that mean they were tested and came back negative, or something else, e.g., they weren't tested or the results weren't conclusive? Given the bottom part of the article that describes how they are just now (as in this month) getting around to purchasing enough zika virus test kits, it looks more like the latter.
 
Jose Fly

Jose Fly

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elohiym said:
Study claims: "The Zika virus can cross the placental barrier..."

Nevertheless, Zika has not been proven to cause microcephaly.
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Yep, that's why research is ongoing.

Does the claim that Zika virus causes microcephaly meet Koch's Postulates?
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Given that microcephaly can result from multiple causes, no (the first test is that the pathogen must be present in all cases of the disease).
 
1PeaceMaker

1PeaceMaker

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I'm having a hard time taking the hype seriously when they just started tracking cases of "microcephaly" in Brazil last October.

In October, the state board of health began requiring that all new cases of microcephaly be reported, and that every newborn with a skull less than 32 centimeters in circumference, or about 12½ inches, which is slightly smaller than the standard medical measure, would be considered to suffer microcephaly.
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http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-bra...ded-alarm-on-zika-and-microcephaly-1454109620
 
1PeaceMaker

1PeaceMaker

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The Brazilian definition of microcephaly seems far too arbitrary to serve science or families.

One of our kids would have fit that definition at birth but he in no way seems microcephalic. He's incredibly fit and smart with a well formed head, and he just grew rapidly after birth.
 
J

jeffblue101

New member
Jose Fly said:
But the question is, what does "have been discarded" mean? Does that mean they were tested and came back negative, or something else, e.g., they weren't tested or the results weren't conclusive? Given the bottom part of the article that describes how they are just now (as in this month) getting around to purchasing enough zika virus test kits, it looks more like the latter.
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still wont give up I see, your question is based on a improper translation by google.
(disclaimer I can't read Portuguese but I can still understand punctuation rules and similar looking words)
the original text reads as such: "O Ministério da Saúde e os estados investigam 3.448 casos suspeitos de microcefalia em todo o país. O novo boletim divulgado nesta quarta-feira (27) aponta também que 270 casos já tiveram confirmação de microcefalia, sendo que 6 com relação ao vírus Zika. Outros 462 casos notificados já foram descartados." the comma in the English translation is just a mistake it should be a period so the other 462 discarded cases are of misdiagnosed Microcephaly cases which have no relation to zika virus or Microcephaly.
 
J

jeffblue101

New member
1PeaceMaker said:
The Brazilian definition of microcephaly seems far too arbitrary to serve science or families.

One of our kids would have fit that definition at birth but he in no way seems microcephalic. He's incredibly fit and smart with a well formed head, and he just grew rapidly after birth.
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wiki basically says it doesn't have a universal definition.
Microcephaly is a neurodevelopmental disorder. It serves as an important neurological indication or warning sign, but no uniformity exists in its definition. It is usually defined as a head circumference (HC) more than two standard deviations below the mean for age and sex.[1][2] Some academics advocate defining it as head circumference more than three standard deviations below the mean for the age and sex
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