Mosquito-borne viruses including Zika, which is feared to cause brain damage in babies, have driven a surge in sales of insect repellent in Brazil, a report said Sunday.
The Brazilian insect repellent sector saw sales rise to a record $54 million in 2015 up from $36 million a year earlier, newspaper O Globo said, citing a study by the Nielsen consumer research firm. Brazil is the country worst affected by the outbreak of Zika, with 1.5 million cases reported last year. Zika is causing a bigger scare since scientists have linked it to cases of microcephaly, a condition which causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads. It has also been linked to Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological disease that can cause paralysis in humans. There is currently no cure or vaccine for Zika, which usually causes little more than a fever and rash in adults. Brazil has also suffered from a rise in cases of dengue, another mosquito-borne disease. Dengue killed 863 people in Brazil in 2015, a rise of more than 82 percent on the previous year, the government said.

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