The Brazilian government has announced that it will fund a Sao Paulo-based biomedical research center, the Butantan Institute, toward the development of a vaccine against the Zika virus.
With the first case of Zika-induced brain damage in a birth within the U.S. being confirmed in Hawaii on Friday, the list of countries with recorded transmission of the virus has been steadily increasing, as Barbados also reported its first incidents on Saturday.
The Zika infection usually involves a mild illness with fever, rash and joint pain. While there is no preventive vaccine or treatment yet, the Brazilian Health ministry has also developed new testing kits to quickly identify three viruses that are carried by the same mosquito species: Dengue, Zika and Chikungunya, BBC News reported.
Due to the alarming prevalence of babies born with microencephaly, or abnormally small heads and brains, after mothers' exposure to the Zika virus, Brazil's Health Minister Marcelo Castro said that priority for testing would be given to pregnant women. He also announced extra funds to speed up finding a vaccine for Zika "in record time."
Jorge Kalil, the director of the Butantan Institute, said that it is expected take three to five years to develop a vaccine, according to CTV News.
Brazil has the largest known outbreak of the Zika virus, which has been linked to a sharp increase in birth defects. Around 3,530 babies have been born with microencephaly since October, whereas fewer than 150 cases were recorded in the country in 2014, BBC News noted.
U.S. health officials on Friday issued a travel alert for 17 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, where infection is a risk, according to Reuters. The warned countries includes Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guyana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela and Puerto Rico.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is especially advising women who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant to consult a doctor before traveling to these areas.
The Zika virus cannot be transferred between infected humans. Adult female mosquitoes pick up the virus up by biting an infected person, and then they pass it on to another person.
