Irene Lôbo
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - Brazil will have a public health laboratory capable of investigating epidemics, according to the secretary of Health Surveillance, Jarbas Barbosa. The laboratory is a continuation of the environmental and epidemiological surveillance project known as Health Surveillance (Vigisus II).

"We want to set up a laboratory of international caliber, so that Brazil will have complete autonomy and so that, in the case of an unknown disease, we will not need to sent material abroad and wait on line for the problem to be clarified," Barbosa added.

The headquarters of the national laboratory will be in Brasília and will act as national coordinator of the Brazilian government laboratory network. Highly specialized tests that currently must be done abroad will be performed there.

It is estimated that the total cost of the laboratory will be US$ 7.9 million (R$ 20 million), to be financed with resources from the World Bank. According to Barbosa, the laboratory should begin operations in 2007.

Translation: David Silberstein