Russia to Register Zika Antibody Detection System in Two Months

Russia plans to register a new system to detect Zika antibodies in human blood in two months, the head of the Russian federal health and epidemic watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Anna Popova said Russia had developed a test system to detect the antibodies of the Ebola virus in 2014.

"Today we have the same system ready for the detection of antibodies against the Zika viral fever. We are registering it in two months," Popova said.

Zika outbreak started in Brazil in the spring of 2015. Zika virus is transmitted by infected Aedes species mosquito and produces no visible effects on adults while the disease is very dangerous for pregnant women causing severe brain damage to unborn babies.

In June, Russian Healthcare Minister Veronika Skvortsova said the country had finished pre-clinical studies of drugs for the treatment of the Zika infection and were moving to the clinical trials.