Brazil minister says no doubt Zika connected to microcephaly

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil's health minister said Friday 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.

The U.S. 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.

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 Friday.

Castro, a psychiatrist by training who has spent much of the last two decades in Congress, was named minister in October as part of a Cabinet shake-up giving more power to Rousseff's coalition allies in a bid to shield her from looming impeachment proceedings.

[...] in recent weeks, he's helped mobilize the government to invest in the development of a vaccine with a Texas research lab, provide care to the hundreds of babies born with birth defects and deploy the military to carry out inspections for mosquito breeding sites.