Municipal workers wait before spraying insecticide to prevent the spread of Aedes aegypti mosquito at Sambodrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, January 26, 2016.
Pilar Olivares/Reuters
Zika was discovered almost 70 years ago, but wasn’t associated with outbreaks until 2007. So how did this formerly obscure virus wind up causing so much trouble in Brazil?
Thalidomide was used by the pregnant women – the population that turned out to be most vulnerable to its risks.
Reuters pictures
Thalidomide’s manufacturer, Chemie Grünenthal, marketed the drug as safe for pregnant women despite reports it was causing malformations in newborns. Why such blatant denial?
Research published today has found an association between commonly used antidepressants and birth defects. But pregnant women face greater harms from stopping their medication abruptly.
Pills ok during pregnancy? We can’t know if we don’t study them.
Medications image via www.shutterstock.com
Imagine being pregnant while having a chronic health condition such as diabetes, hypertension, depression or asthma, or being diagnosed with an illness while pregnant. Amazingly, your doctor may not know…
Research about the impact of marriage between first cousins on rates of birth defects garnered much media attention when it was published late last week. Sadly, most of the coverage worked to alarm rather…
Research in cerebral palsy has historically lagged behind other medical areas.
EPA/Kerim Okten
Nadia Badawi, University of Notre Dame Australia dan Iona Novak, University of Notre Dame Australia
Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common physical disability, affecting 35,000 Australians, or one in 500 people. It is estimated that one Australian child is born with cerebral palsy every 15 hours. We…
Researchers studied nearly 310,000 births between 1986 and 2002.
flickr/spamily
Recently published research helps clarify the risk of birth defects linked to assisted reproductive technology. The study authors (including myself) found that a major factor for birth defects was parental…
Candice Reed, Australia’s first IVF baby, will turn 32 next month.
AAP/Ethical Strategies
Babies conceived using commonly available fertility treatments are on average almost 50% more likely to have a birth defect than those conceived naturally, according to the most comprehensive study of…
Assistant Director of Pharmacy, Mater Health SEQ in conjoint appointment as Associate Professor of Pharmacology, Bond University and as Associate Professor (Clinical), The University of Queensland