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Brazil OKs quick test for Zika virus

Xinhua, February 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

Brazil approved a quick testing method to detect the Zika virus, the country's National Health Surveillance Agency announced Monday.

The method, designed by a Canadian lab, will make it possible to determine whether a patient is infected with the virus in only 20 minutes. The current testing method used in Brazil works only in a more acute phase of infection.

The Zika outbreak in Brazil has caught the attention of the World Health Organization as the virus would cause infants to be born with microcephaly if their mothers are infected during pregnancy.

Over 4,000 reported cases of microcephaly have been registered in Brazil, among them over 400 have already been confirmed. Of the confirmed cases, 141 were attributable to the Zika virus.

Cases of microcephaly in babies born from women infected with Zika were also registered in the United States and other Latin American countries.

The disease is also linked with a rise of Guillain-Barre syndrome cases. It is believed that Zika can trigger Guillain-Barre in people with a predisposition to this auto-immune disease, which affects the nerve system. Endi