SAO PAULO -- The Brazilian government announced it will direct funds to a biomedical research centre to help develop a vaccine against a virus linked to brain damage in babies.

Health Minister Marcelo Castro said Friday that the goal is for the Sao Paulo-based Butantan Institute to develop "in record time" a vaccine for Zika, which is spread through mosquito bites.




Most have been concentrated in Brazil's poor northeast, though cases in Rio de Janeiro and other big cities have also been on the rise, prompting people to stock up on mosquito repellent.



"Today there is only one way to fight the Zika virus, which is to destroy the mosquito's breeding grounds," Castro said. "The final victory against the virus will only come when we develop a vaccine against that disease."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an alert Friday advising pregnant women to avoid travelling to Brazil and several other countries in the Americas where Zika outbreaks have occurred.