The World Health Organization sought to crush growing rumors that vaccines cause the birth defect linked to the Zika virus and a host of other rumors swirling around the growing outbreak.
The Zika virus, spread primarily through mosquito bites, has spread to more than 50 countries and territories around the world. Health agencies strongly suspect the virus causes the birth defect microcephaly and neurological disorder Guillain-Barre Syndrome.
On Friday, the WHO addressed several rumors surrounding the Zika outbreak.
Chief among them is that vaccines cause microcephaly, the birth defect that causes babies to be born with small heads.
In shooting down the rumor, the WHO pointed to an extensive review of data from a 2013-2014 outbreak of Zika in French Polynesia.
The review “found no evidence that any vaccine administered during pregnancy resulted in birth defects,” the WHO said Friday.
The world health body added that national agencies must ensure that products such as vaccines meet standards for safety and quality. “WHO assists countries in strengthening their national regulatory systems.”
The WHO also denied that genetically modified mosquitoes are contributing to the spread of Zika and microcephaly.
Such bugs are a new technique for fighting mosquitoes. The genetically modified, sterile bugs are released with low doses of radiation.
The idea is that the sterile males will mate with the females and the eggs won’t survive, hence curbing the spread of mosquitoes, the WHO said.
“There is no evidence that the technique has been associated with increases in microcephaly cases or other human anomalies or defects,” WHO said. “However, the evidence for the public health value of this technique needs to be established.”
There also is no proof that an insecticide called pyriproxyfen causes microcephaly, the agency added. The WHO and other agencies sought to dispel the claim from a group of Argentine scientists.
The WHO added that there is no specific repellent that works best against the mosquito that spreads Zika, called Aedes aegypti.
