YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) - State health officials investigating a cluster of fatal birth defects in central Washington have not been able to identify a cause for most of the cases.  The Yakima Herald-Republic says that the state Department of Health concluded that there was no sole factor to blame for the elevated rates of the anencephaly, a rare neural tube defect.

However, the report released last week said women whose pregnancies were affected by neural tube defects showed low folic acid use compared with other women in Washington.  Between 2010 and 2016, 45 babies in Yakima, Benton and Franklin counties were born with anencephaly. The rate in the three-county area was about four times the national average.  Women in the Yakima-Benton-Franklin county area whose pregnancies were affected by neural tube defects showed low folic acid intake compared with women in the rest of Washington, the report said.

Folic acid is found in leafy green vegetables, citrus fruits, beans and grain-based food like bread, rice, cereal and pasta, because white flour is fortified with folic acid.  In 2016, the Food and Drug Administration approved folic acid fortification of corn masa flour, which public health officials hope will improve folic acid intake for Hispanic women who use masa flour in cooking.

That’s important because Hispanic women are more likely to be affected by anencephaly: The report shows that between 2010 and 2015, the rate of anencephaly was 9.6 per 10,000 births among Hispanic or Latina women, 50 percent higher than the rate of 6.4 per 10,000 births among non-Hispanic white women.   Hispanic women accounted for roughly two-thirds of anencephaly cases in the cluster, but only about 56 percent of total births for that time frame.

Investigators looked at exposure to nitrates in drinking water, radiation and pesticides. The report said none of those analyses identified a potential cause.

Health officials suspended its investigation in late 2016 into the cause of the elevated rate of anencephaly. They're now focusing on surveillance, outreach and prevention.

 

 

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