Brazil is investigating the potential link between Zika infections and more than 4,300 suspected cases of microcephaly [Xinhua]Brazil is pumping in $2.8 million to fund research aimed at defeating the Zika virus.
Brazil’s health minister and President Dilma Rousseff were visiting the Rio de Janeiro headquarters of top Brazilian research institute, Fiocruz.
Health Minister Marcelo Castro says over $1 million will help finance a study to find a vaccine for the Zika virus.
The remaining funding will go toward a study on Zika and microcephaly to be jointly conducted by the Brazilian research institute Fiocruz and the United States’ National Institute of Health.
Earlier last month, Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff said her government would provide all resources needed to develop a vaccine against the virus.
Brazil’s health ministry released new figures on Wednesday confirming 104 additional cases of infants born with the congenital abnormality called microcephaly in the past week.
Health experts and researchers are probing a link between the Zika virus and microcephaly, a condition marked by abnormally small heads in newborn babies.
On February 1, WHO had declared Zika virus a global health emergency.
TBP and Agencies
Source