On his VDU's blog, Dr. Ian Mackay writes: 508 confirmed microcephaly diagnoses in Brazil...let's just say they're all Zika virus related because...belief? After citing a recent Brazilian MOH update, he goes on to say:
I have felt nothing but unease about the way Zikacephaly has been settled on via a process of accusation, summary judgement and instant public conviction during 2016 - via instances in both the media and the scientific literature.
I'm now in complete disbelief that a national MOH is relying on a 'belief' without further data or discussion, to officially communicate a message about the cause of a severe disease.
Why not rely on a careful analysis of extensive testing data? Do such data exist? Are they bottled up in the publication pipeline? Why not employ a more reasoned public engagement strategy whereby careful and balanced description of the the risks and all the knowledge gaps, is communicated to a rightfully worried community? And to the world, because no outbreak or epidemic affects the host country in isolation any more.
The battle to cull the mosquito vector and avoid bites was under way quickly, so why the need to point the finger so urgently when nothing additional can be done right now anyway? So we can get a vaccine underway? What if...heretical at this point I know, but what if Zika virus is not the cause of the surge in microcephaly cases? Gasp!! What a gigantic waste of resources and public faith in science we will have burned through because--belief?
