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The microcephaly epidemic in Brazil generated intense debate regarding its causality, and one hypothesised cause of this epidemic, now recognised as congenital Zika virus syndrome, was the treatment of drinking water tanks with pyriproxyfen to control Aedes aegypti larvae. We present the results of a geographical analysis of the association between the prevalence of microcephaly confirmed by Fenton growth charts and the type of larvicide used in the municipalities that were home to the mothers of the affected newborns in the metropolitan region of Recife in Pernambuco, the state in Brazil where the epidemic was first detected. The overall prevalence of microcephaly was 82 per 10,000 live births in the three municipalities that used the larvicide Bti (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis) instead of pyriproxyfen, and 69 per 10,000 live births in the eleven municipalities that used pyriproxyfen. The difference was not statistically significant. Our results show that the prevalence of microcephaly was not higher in the areas in which pyriproxyfen was used. In this ecological approach, there was no evidence of a correlation between the use of pyriproxyfen in the municipalities and the microcephaly epidemic.

Portal hypertension is a frequent complication of chronic liver disease, detected not only in schistosomiasis, but also in cirrhosis of any etiology. Vascular alterations in the colonic mucosa are a potential source for acute or chronic bleeding and have been observed in patients with portal hypertension. The purpose of this prospective study was to describe and propose a classification for the vascular alterations of portal hypertension in the colonic mucosa among patients with hepatosplenic schistosomiasis mansoni. One or more alterations of portal colopathy were observed in all patients and they were classified according to their intensity, obeying the classification proposed by the authors. Portal colopathy is an important finding in hepatosplenic schistosomiasis and might be the cause of lower gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with severe portal hypertension.