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.
