Poverty Is Helping Zika Spread in Brazil: Report

The Zika virus in Brazil has been linked to a significant increase in birth defects with poverty and living conditions seen as a key factor to spreading the disease during one the country’s worst recessions in history, according to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC.

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According to the CDC study, birth defects involving the nervous system nearly doubled after the Zika virus hit Brazil. Researchers linked the virus' spread to poverty and living conditions in Northeast Brazil, where malnutrition and contaminated drinking water could encourage the spread of Zika.

"Because of the poverty, we have a more closely packed population and sanitary conditions are worse where the virus is most prevalent … It's the perfect setup for an epidemic to occur, where there's already inadequate social conditions," Zika researcher Dr. Jamary Oliveira Filho told CNN.

"Poverty is a central cause of the Zika health crisis ... what we're seeing in Brazil and in Puerto Rico, and what we saw with Ebola, is that poverty fuels the spread of infectious disease," said Eric LeCompte, executive director of Jubilee USA.

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Brazil, the largest economy in the Latin America, is struggling to fund government services as its debt grows during its worst recession in history. Brazil's debt has grown 33 percent in the past five years relative to the size of its economy. More than 20 percent of the country's population is estimated to live below the poverty line.

In Puerto Rico, over 15,000 residents have tested positive for the Zika virus. Meanwhile the government has cut health care spending due to the growing debt crisis.

CDC director Thomas Frieden, warned Friday that the center was “now essentially out of money” and will find it difficult to fight against the disease if U.S. Congress continues to agree to additional funding for prevention efforts.

Zika has been linked to birth defects in babies, including microcephaly as well as Guillain-Barre syndrome, which causes the body’s immune system to attack its nervous system.