NEW YORK — A new study suggests the worrisome Zika virus apparently has been in Brazil at least a year longer than experts previously thought.
Some experts have speculated the virus first came to the Americas sometime in 2014. But the new study — led by Brazilian researchers — concludes Zika landed in Brazil a year earlier.
The researchers coupled cutting-edge genetic sequencing of the virus with an analysis of human travel patterns.
The study was published online Thursday by the journal Science.
Zika virus was first identified in Uganda in 1947. The virus began to pop up in other parts of the world in the last decade, but was not detected in Brazil last year.
