Brazil minister says no doubt Zika connected to microcephaly

Brazil's health minister said today that authorities were "absolutely sure" that the Zika virus is connected to devastating birth defects and rejected criticism that the government was slow to investigate the surge of cases that set off international alarms.
Marcelo Castro made the remarks during an interview with The Associated Press in Brazil's capital. He spoke a day before tens of thousands of soldiers and health inspectors were to take to the streets in an unprecedented drive to encourage residents to be vigilant for mosquito breeding sites. The goal: visit 3 million homes in more than 350 cities.
Brazil is at the epicenter of a virus that has been linked to rare birth defects known as microcephaly. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned pregnant women to avoid traveling to more than two dozen countries and territories in the Americas where active outbreaks are taking place.

Although the link has not been scientifically proven and myriad questions remain, Castro said the half-year gap between the virus outbreak in South America's largest country and the spike in reported cases of microcephaly was not a coincidence.
"We are absolutely sure of the causal relationship between microcephaly and Zika," he said, adding that government researchers were unanimous in their assessment: "It has nothing to do with the environment, nothing to do with race, nothing to do with gender."
Clinical and preliminary laboratory evidence has shown that many mothers of children with microcephaly were infected with Zika during their pregnancies. Castro said more research was needed to determine whether additional factors may have also played a role in the spike of birth defects.

Traditionally, Brazil had reported about 150 such cases of microcephaly a year. Since October, 5,079 suspected cases have been reported, according to the latest figures released today. Of those, 462 cases have been confirmed while 765 have been discarded.
In response to criticism that Brazil was moving too slowly to confirm cases of microcephaly, Castro said the federal government was pushing states and local governments to speed up tests on newborns.
Castro, who will be traveling to the capital of the northeastern state of Bahia to oversee the "Zero Zika" campaign there, called on his compatriots to join the battle to eliminate Zika. He said that keeping homes free of mosquitoes was the most effective way to contain the virus until a vaccine is developed.