Page 11 - Aruba Today
P. 11
WORLD NEWS A11
Friday 12 February 2016
Brazil, Texas state hospital reach deal on Zika vaccine
JOSHUA GOODMAN eign researchers and regu- Brazilian Army soldiers distribute flyers with information on how to combat the Aedes aegypti in
Associated Press lators arriving to the South Olinda, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Brazil has signed an agreement with a Texas research hospital
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Bra- American nation in the to develop a vaccine against the Zika virus, the country’s health minister said Thursday.
zil has signed an agree- coming days, representa-
ment with a Texas research tives from the U.S. Food (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
hospital to develop a vac- and Drug Administration
cine against the Zika virus, will meet with their Brazil-
the country’s health minis- ian counterparts to ensure
ter said Thursday, adding that clinical testing of the
the goal is for the vaccine vaccine can take place
to be ready for clinical test- as quickly and smoothly as
ing within 12 months. possible.
Minister Marcelo Castro “This isn’t just Brazil’s con-
said at a news conference cern; it’s the world’s con-
that the government will cern,” he said.
invest $1.9 million in the re- While Castro said the gov-
search, which will be jointly ernment’s main focus now
conducted by the Universi- is on quickly developing a
ty of Texas Medical Branch vaccine, reports about the
in Galveston and the Evan- virus’ evolution continue to
dro Chagas Institute in the emerge.
Amazonian city of Belem Castro said doctors had
— two facilities specializing been perplexed by the
in study of mosquito viruses. death, which occurred be-
He said the Health Ministry fore the Zika outbreak had
also has reached vaccine been discovered and was
partnerships with the U.S. originally classified as a re-
Centers for Disease Con- sult of pneumonia. But test
trol and Prevention and is results made known this
looking to work with phar- week confirmed traces of
maceutical giant Glaxo- Zika in the woman’s blood.
SmithKline because of its “We’re still studying this
role developing a vac- in greater detail,” Castro
cine against Ebola after a said, cautioning that it’s
deadly outbreak in West impossible to know what
Africa in 2014. role, if any, Zika caused in
Brazil’s Zika outbreak has her death that the death,
become a public health which was reported to the
crisis since researchers here WHO.
linked the mosquito-borne Castro said World Health
virus to a surge in a rare Organization chief Mar-
birth defects compromis- garet Chan is expected
ing infants’ brains. The con- to visit Brazil on Feb. 23 to
nection has yet to be sci- help coordinate the gov-
entifically proven, but the ernment’s response with
CDC has pointed to strong other agencies around the
evidence of a link between world. An initial delegation
the two and called on of 15 researchers from the
pregnant women to avoid CDC was slated to arrive in
travel to 26 countries and Brazil on Friday, he added.
territories in the Americas In a separate news con-
with active outbreaks. ference, Defense Minister
Brazilian officials have pre- Aldo Rebelo said some
viously said any vaccine for 220,000 members of Bra-
Zika could take as many zil’s Armed Forces would
as five years but Castro on be taking part in a nation-
Thursday said he was more wide effort on Saturday to
optimistic, saying that it educate the population on
could be ready for distribu- how to eliminate mosquito
tion within three years. breeding in and around
As part of a stream of for- their homes.q
