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Brazil giving USD 2.8 million for Zika research

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AP Rio de Janeiro
Last Updated : Mar 11 2016 | 6:13 AM IST
Brazil's health minister says the country's top biomedical research institute is getting USD 2.8 million to fund studies aimed at combating the Zika virus.
Health Minister Marcelo Castro says over a USD 1 million will help finance a study to find a vaccine for the virus, which Brazilian researchers have tentatively linked to a surge in cases of microcephaly, a birth defect that affects infants' skulls and brains.
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 Institutes of Health.
Castro made the announcement during a visit yesterday to Fiocruz's headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. President Dilma Rousseff was also at Fiocruz for meetings with officials there but left without speaking to the media.

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First Published: Mar 11 2016 | 6:13 AM IST

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