BRAZIL – Brazilian scientists in Rio de Janeiro have obtained the genome sequence of the Zika virus and found the disease is indeed related to the incidence of microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with small heads and impaired cognition, that country’s official news agency said Saturday.

The scientists were able to identify “the full order of the virus’s genetic data, a significant step towards understanding how Zika behaves in the human body and how to develop a vaccine as well as new tests,” Agencia Brasil reported.

The researchers at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro’s molecular virology lab analyzed the virus taken from the amniotic fluid of pregnant women, and the scientists also isolated the virus in the brains of fetuses with microcephaly who died in Paraiba state in northeastern Brazil right after birth, the agency said. (CNN)…[+]