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ByJoshuaGoodman and Mauricio Savarese The Associated Press CAMPINA GRANDE, BRA- ZIL Last May, as the first cases of Zika were being detected in Brazil, cities at the front lines of the epi- demic stopped receiving government shipments of insecticide to kill mosqui- toes. In Campina Grande, a city of 400,000, the short- ages continued even af- ter President Dilma Rous- seff declared the mosquito- borne virus a national health emergency on Nov. 11. The lack of larvicide is one of a string of public health failings crippling Brazil's ability to man- age the Zika outbreak and the surge in rare birth de- fects believed linked to it. A weeklong tour by The Associated Press of the impoverished north- east where the epidemic is most severe found pub- lic hospitals starved for funding and local officials scrambling to care for the stricken babies. "In 19 years of working in environmental control I've never seen so much disorganization," said Ros- sandra Oliveira, who man- ages mosquito control in Campina Grande. The immediate culprit is Brazil's deepest reces- sion since the 1930s. But experts say the collective failure to tackle corruption and crushing inequality is also to blame. If addressing such long- standing scourges weren't a steep enough challenge, Rousseff must now do so while fighting for political survival. This week, thou- sands of Brazilians poured into the streets to demand she resign over a widening corruption scandal now en- snaring her mentor, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Health Minister Marcelo Castro was at a loss to ex- plain what happened. "If there was this short- age — which I cannot at- test to if there was or not — it was for a short time, and was an isolated inci- dent that does not affect the overall situation," Cas- tro said. Castro said shipments have been normalized since he took office last October. "We've made a huge ef- fort to ensure that there's no lack of larvicide in any part of Brazil," he said in an interview. But documents obtained by the AP from prosecutors indicate that the shortages were so severe supplies had to be rationed nationwide between August and Oc- tober. In a technical note sent in September, Pernambuco state officials even dis- cussed using substitutes like household bleach or small fish to eat mosquito larvae. Castro said that the most effective way to fight mos- quitoes is eliminating the breeding sites lurking in- side homes. But virologists say it's important to leverage all weapons, including larvi- cide, which is dropped into makeshift cisterns that proliferate in the north- east due to a lack of reli- able running water. Instead of looking at past failures, Rousseff has been appealing to national pride. The T-shirt she wore to kick off a nationwide cleanup campaign read, "A mosquito is not stronger than an entire country." "The 204 million of us are much stronger than this mosquito," she said Friday in a speech in Ba- hia state, which has also been battered by the virus. Ground zero is Pernam- buco and Paraiba. Since Zika was detected in Bra- zil, the two states have ac- counted for 40 percent of the 6,480 reported cases of babies born with shrunken heads, a rare condition known as microcephaly. In the dusty town of Monteiro, walk-ins to the town's hospital tripled around Christmas. In a single 24-hour period, the hospital burned through a month's supply of pain kill- ers. "It was a very sad New Year's. There were no par- ties, no fireworks. Every family had at least one per- son sick," recalls Ana Paula Barbosa Oliveira, the hospi- tal's pregnant director, who worked throughout the panic until falling ill her- self with what she feared was Zika. The hospital had to han- dle the stampede after the state government — for 15 months — stopped send- ing checks to keep the fa- cility running. The town sued last year and won. But over $1 million in back pay- ments remains uncollected. Paraiba's health secre- tary said the state assisted local officials during the crisis with two visits to the town. But he didn't provide details. The city-run Pedro I hos- pital in Campina Grande is another example of govern- ment neglect. There, 29 ba- bies with microcephaly are receiving physical therapy to help their long-term de- velopment. The mayor's re- quest for $1.5 million from the Health Ministry to buy an MRI scanner has gone unmet. Corruption may also be playing a role. In Paraiba, prosecutors have 96 ongo- ing investigations into local officials embezzling federal health care funds. It's not just Brazil's long- neglected backwaters that are struggling. For years, the public health care sys- tem has been on life sup- port. In Recife, a city of 1.6 million, where more than 300 babies with micro- cephaly are being treated, health secretary Jailson Correia feels frustrated. A pediatrician with a doctor- ate in infectious diseases, he requested $7.5 million in emergency funding in a Nov. 24 meeting with Cas- tro. Only $300,000 arrived. The insult was double when Rousseff visited a few weeks later to inaugurate a highway. "It's amazing how a 1 centimeter mosquito is unmasking so many of our problems," reflects Correia. "I'm not saying a crisis of this proportion is welcome, but perhaps it will finally make us reflect on what kind of society we want to live in." OUTBREAK InZikafight,Brazilbogged down by neglect, recession FELIPEDANA—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Luana Vitoria, who was born with microcephaly, cries during a physical therapy session at the Altino Ventura Foundation, a treatment center that provides free health care in Recife, Brazil. By Menelaos Hadjicostis and Raf Casert The Associated Press BRUSSELS After months of acrimony, the European Union and Turkey reached a landmark deal on Friday to ease the migrant crisis and give Ankara concessions on better EU relations. In a final meeting high on smiles, handshakes and backslapping, the 28 EU leaders and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu sealed an agreement that will allow thousands of mi- grantstobesentbacktoTur- key as of Sunday, while An- kara will see fast-track pro- cedures to get billions in aid to deal with Syrian refugees, unprecedented visa conces- sions for Turks to come to Europe and a re-energizing of its EU membership bid. Davutoglu strode into the final joint session of a summit in Brussels with the poise of a winner, hap- pily shaking hands with German Chancellor An- gela Merkel and getting an encouraging pat on the back from French President Francois Hollande. "Today, we have finally reached an agreement," EU Council President Don- ald Tusk, who chaired the summit, told reporters. "All irregular migrants coming from Turkey into Greek is- lands from this Sunday, March 20, will be returned to Turkey." For the EU, the deal brought some closure to months of bitter infighting over how to deal with the refugee emergency by es- sentially outsourcing the problem to Turkey. With more than 1 million migrants arriving in Europe over the past year, EU lead- ers were desperate to clinch a deal with Turkey and heal deep rifts within the bloc, while relieving the pressure on Greece, which has borne the brunt of arrivals. The agreement would have clear commitments that the rights of legiti- mate refugees would be re- spected and treated accord- ing to international and EU law. SOUTHERN EUROPE EU , Tu rk ey s tr ik e de al to ease migrant crisis By Bassem Mroue and Jamey Keaten The Associated Press BEIRUT Backed by Rus- sian aircraft, Syrian troops pushed Friday toward the historic central town of Palmyra in an offensive to recapture it from the Is- lamic State group whose fighters have damaged some of the world's most precious archaeological sites since they overran the town last May. After night fell, Syria's state news agency SANA reported that the offen- sive advanced toward Pal- myra and that scores of IS fighters have been killed or wounded in Syrian ar- tillery fire near the town. The reports gave no casu- alty numbers. Activists who moni- tor the Syrian conflict re- ported intense airstrikes in Palmyra and its suburbs. In Moscow, a Russian Defense Ministry official confirmed his country's warplanes in Syria were flying in support of the Syrian offensive. Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi said Russian aircraft were conducting 20-25 sorties a day in support of the Pal- myra offensive, even though Russia this week drew down its military presence in Syria after President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial pullout of Russian aircraft and forces from Syria, in support of the Ge- neva peace talks. The U.N.-brokered talks between representatives of the Syrian government and the Western-backed op- position adjourned for the weekend after five days of proximity discussions. Though Rudskoi's state- ments indicated that Rus- sian aircraft supporting the Palmyra offensive were carrying out airstrikes, U.S. military officials raised doubts, saying the Rus- sians have conducted no airstrikes in the last several days but that the Syrian re- gime has done so. If the Syrian army and its allies capture Palmyra, in the central province of Homs, it would be a major victory against IS militants in Syria. 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