The WHO’s Emergency Committee on Zika reaffirmed its previous advice that there should be “no general restrictions on travel and trade with countries, areas and/or territories” with Zika transmission including cities in Brazil hosting the Olympics that start on August 5, with the Paralympic Games following in September. Brazil is hosting the Games during its winter, when the concentration of the mosquitoes that spread Zika and other viruses is low, the panel noted.
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The Zika committee reaffirmed previous recommendations that pregnant women should not travel to areas with a virus outbreak, and that while they are pregnant they should either abstain from sex or practice only safe sex with partners who do travel to Zika-infected areas.
A view shows the construction site of the Rio 2016 Olympic Tennis venue at the Rio 2016 Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 24, 2015.
Zika has been linked to birth defects.
Last month, Amir Attaran and more than 200 colleagues wrote an open letter to World Health Organization, accusing it of shirking its responsibilities by not considering whether to recommend delaying or cancelling the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
The World Health Organization projected that approximately 2,500 babies would be born in Brazil with microcephaly if the current trends of Zika infection were to continue.
Regarding mass gatherings in general, Heymann said the committee, after hearing from three additional experts on the topic, concluded that the risk to an individual would be the same as in any other area where Zika virus is circulating, whether or not a mass gathering is taking place. Zika is now active in about 40 countries, including much of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Those health professionals, led by Dr. Amir Attaran, a University of Ottawa professor, were invited to advise the panel but some objected to being asked to sign a confidentiality clause. It has advised pregnant women to avoid travelling to the Games, and visitors to take precautions to avoid mosquito bites. Rio already has 435 kilometers of cycle paths, but by the start of the Olympic Games that was to be increased to 450 kilometers.
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The committee however said Brazil should make sure it boosts its control measures in cities where the Games will be held.
