Claire Hughes is reporting at Capitol Confidential a research scientist with the state Department of Health is the co-inventor of a better test for the Zika virus, officials announced Fri., Jan. 27. Zika has been associated with a birth defect called microcephaly. The scientists credited with the development of the test are Susan J. Wong, director of Wadsworth Center’s Diagnostic Immunology Laboratory, and Pei-Yong Shi, a professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch. The new test takes a day or two, and replaces a test that currently takes two to three weeks to get results, officials said. Zika is primarily spread through the bite of an infected mosquito. Read the full story at Capitol Confidential, a Times Union blog.