A local worker disinfecting the famed Sambadrome in Rio before a major carnival in the City to protect against Aedes mosquitoes that can transmit Zika. (1)

By Anna Domahidi

Many have criticised the World Health Organization for not pressing the Olympics committee to cancel or reschedule the games due to the risk of Zika spreading to the international community from athletes and tourists. A recent Brazilian strain of the Zika virus has made itself prominent in the media for causing major birth defects in babies whose mothers were infected during pregnancy. Zika has been around for over 60 years, but it has never been known to have these kind of effects. Zika is an infection that can be spread through the bites of Aedes mosquitoes or sex that causes fever, rash, joint pain, conjunctivitis, muscle pain, and headaches. (2) Although people infected with Zika usually do not get sick enough to need to go to the hospital and rarely die, Zika can cause major birth defects, like microcephaly, in the babies of pregnant women infected with the virus. An effective vaccine has not been created yet and new symptoms are being researched every day.

Athletes from around the world have withdrawn from the Olympics and thousands of tourists have cancelled their travel plans to Rio, but the threat still exists to those who are going. Thousands of athletes representing 206 countries and an (1 Chicago Tribune) estimated 200,000 tourists are on their way to Rio and afterwards will return back into the international community where new outbreaks of the virus can form from sexual transmission and Aedes mosquitos. (3)Rio de Janeiro is home to the second most cases of Zika of any state in Brazil, making the threat of tourists and athletes contracting Zika  greater. (4)

Many public health experts have signed a letter to the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Margaret Chan, prompting her to advise the Olympics in Rio be rescheduled or moved to a different location. 5 The arguments the letter makes are as follows: the virus causes major birth defects and probably others that have not been discovered yet, although the risk to a single person is not great, the risk to a larger population is large, the second most cases of Zika in Brazil are in Rio de Janeiro, the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases in Brazil have increased recently, Rio’s health system is weak, it is possible to eradicate the Aedes mosquito, and the international community cannot rely on hope that the winter season in Brazil will prevent the transmission of Zika. The letter ends by stating that there is a greater chance for speeding up the spread of the Brazilian strain of Zika to the international community by allowing the Olympics to continue in Rio than by either postponing the Olympics or moving it to a different location. Although the letter makes many strong arguments, the World Health Organization chose to ignore it (6) and the advice of numerous other public health professionals.

The 2016 Summer Olympics are set to start on August 6, with the opening ceremony being on August 5. Good luck to all the athletes competing and to those visiting Rio, make sure to wear bug spray!