Zika: What's going on?

In Recife, northwestern Brazil, they used to see ten cases of microcephaly a year. Now they're seeing ten cases a week. I'd say that's a bit odd. So far the good old Aedes mosquito has been blamed, and intensive efforts have been put in place to eradicate the horrible thing. But now attention has been focused on these eradication methods as being themselves possibly responsible for the dramatic rise in microcephaly cases.

First there's the agent pyriproxifen, manufactured by a Japanese firm under the umbrella of the chemical giant Monsanto. This agent is teratogenic, that is it has an injurious effect on embryological development, specifically the mosquito in question. But there are growing concerns that the agent has a likewise injurious effect on the human foetus. It is certainly true that the explosion in cases of malformed foetuses has concentrated itself in areas where this pesticide has been used the most. The pesticide inevitably finds its way into fresh water sources. Colombia, for example, where the pesticide has not yet been deployed, has its fair share of zika cases, but hardly any cases of microcephaly. Interesting...

Second, another method deployed to control the mosquito involves releasing colonies of genetically modified non-harmful mosquitoes made by the Oxitec company that, as the story goes, replace the nasty ones. Oddly enough, cases of microcephaly started to skyrocket after the campaign to introduce it began.

I'm normally sceptical about conspiracy theories, tending to believe more in the "cock-up" theory of how terrible things happen. Hence I'm doubtful that zika is some kind of bio-weapon perhaps developed by the CIA, just as I'm doubtful that august organisation invented AIDS to punish evil gays and junkies. But just because those theories are doubtless crap, we should not ignore the possibility that enormous companies like Monsanto care more about expanding their profits and spheres of influence than they do about the health of ordinary human beings. Perhaps it will need Brazil itself, at the epicentre of the microcephaly disaster, to take serious steps to uncover what's behind it before their tourist industry collapses completely. I wish them luck.