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Prevent Zika birth defects with Vitamin D

Zika birth problems can be virtually prevented when women have enough vitamin D during their first trimester:

Enough vitamin D might be provided by a single dose of 200,000 IU vitamin D

  • $1 approximate cost of 200,000 IU of vitamin D*
  • More vitamin D needed if overweight: (500,000 IU if obese - Vitamin D gets locked away in fatty tissue)

This same immune system benefit is obtained from about 4 days of sunbathing**

  • Vitamin D from the sun appears to provide about 3X more benefit than capsule.
  • Sunbathing for a day provides about 16,000 IU of vitamin D
    **Note: more ‘’days’’ are needed for those with darker skin or if overweight
    *Note: A single large dose (200,000 IU) strengthens immune systems for more than 1 month, thus one
       50,000 IU capsule = benefit to immune system of about 1 day of sunbathing

Cost concerns:

  • Funding options include:
    Donations by citizens of each country
    Donations by foreign citizens - similar to disaster relief
    Money from tourist organizations/companies
    Money from AID agencies
    Paid by the pregnant woman getting the vitamin D
    Donation of vitamin D by suppliers
  • Education/marketing costs
  • Distribution costs to be covered
  • Number of pregancies (30,000 to 1,000,000)
  • Number of countries (1 to 30)

Timing - Needs to be started today!

Assuming 400 million people live in Zika affected countries
Assuming 10 pregancies annually per 1,000 population
Assuming only 1 in 4 are near Zika infected regions
About 1 million pregnant women can benefit from strengthened immune systems


Other situations to be considered soon

  1. Woman might become pregnant (might need booster shot of vitamin D every 2 months)
  2. Man or woman traveling to a Zika region
  3. Woman already suspected to have Zika (with or without symptoms)
  4. Woman previously had Zika and then got pregnant (probably no vitamin D needed)
  5. Probably prevent Zika symptoms
  6. Prevent GBS and other problems
  7. Also reduce symptoms from Dengue, Chikungunya and other mosquito virus

Microcephalic rates per 10,000 pregnancies

UK 1.2 Pre-Zika
US 10 Pre-Zika (4,800/year)
Brazil 95 per Zika infection during 1st trimester

Vitamin D is a very cost effective way to not scare off the tourists

Expectation: fewer Zika birth problems ==> fewer tourists lost

Example Country Annual $ Tourism Annual birthsNotes
Brazil $ 1,900,000,000 3,000,0001,000 confirmed Microcephalics as of April 14, 2016
3,000 still being investigated
Puerto Rico $ 900,000,000 33,000 1 in 5 expected to get Zika
PR is an open portal to US

See also Vitamin D Life

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