Austin/Hyderabad : Even as the first known case of Zika being sexually transmitted has surfaced in Texas, Bharat Biotech, a Hyderabad-based vaccines and bio-therapeutic manufacturer, has claimed to have achieved a breakthrough in developing a vaccine to fight the dreaded mosquito-borne virus, which causes serious birth defects in children. Bharat Biotech reportedly began work on the Zika virus a year ago.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Texas case is the first known instance of the virus being locally acquired in the United States in the current outbreak. The Guardian reports that the case involved a patient who had sex with someone who had recently returned from Venezuela and was infected with the mosquito borne virus.
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