Between February and April of this year, Brazil’s health ministry registered 91,387 likely cases of the Zika virus, with the number of babies born with Zika-linked defects standing at 4,908 in April. The virus can also cause adult-onset neurological problems such as Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can cause paralysis and death.
Advertisement
The authors also noted that despite increased efforts to wipe out the mosquitoes that spread Zika, the number of infections in Rio de Janeiro have gone up rather than down.
The experts came from more than two dozen countries in fields including public health, bioethics and pediatrics, and included former White House science adviser Dr. Philip Rubin.
Based on the current assessment of the virus worldwide, WHO said, “there is no public health justification for postponing or canceling the Games”.
“WHO will continue to monitor the situation and update our advice as necessary”, it added.
“We live in an incredibly interconnected world, global travel and trade are daily activities that offer Zika virus an opportunity to spread”, said Jonathan Ball, professor of molecular virology at the UK’s University of Nottingham.
“The Olympics will be held in August, the coldest month of the year in Rio de Janeiro, when the mosquito numbers will be at their lowest”, Hotez said.
The WHO said it would continue to provide public health advice to the Government of Brazil and the Rio 2016 Organising Committee on ways to further mitigate the risk of athletes and visitors contracting the virus during the Games.
Meanwhile, Sridhar said that although she was not fully convinced by the calls to postpone the games in the letter signed by 150 global scientists, doctors and medical ethicists from such institutions as Oxford University and Harvard and Yale universities in the USA, athletes should seriously consider the risks of going to Rio.
Sridhar, who has worked with a number of United Nations agencies and Ministries of Health in emerging and developing countries, said that male athletes in particular who are thinking about having children should weigh up the risks of going to the Brazilian capital for the Games.
“It is unethical to run the risk, just for Games that could proceed anyway, if postponed and/or moved”, the letter stated. “Not doing so casts doubt on WHO’s neutrality”, it said. The independent doctors can say what they like but I think we will find that Brazil and Rio in particular is going to be on top of the Zika virus issue. If you have to go somewhere where Zika is spreading and you’re pregnant, be really careful about Mosquito bites.
The letter, sent to World Health Organization director-general Margaret Chan, said the Games, due to be held in Rio de Janeiro in August, should be moved to another location or delayed.
Advertisement
In lieu of around 60 countries and territories reporting cases of Zika virus, both World Health Organization and critics agree on people following public heath guidelines when traveling.
