Debate Over the Dangers of Zika at the Rio Olympics

(ATR) A call by a public health and law expert to postpone or move the Rio Olympic Games due to the Zika virus is bringing the issue back to the forefront less than three months before the Games are to begin.

Professor Amir Attaran of the University of Ottawa, in a commentary published in the Harvard Public Health Review, gives five reasons why the Rio Games should not go off as planned.

First, he says the latest official Brazilian data shows Rio de Janeiro has 26,000 suspected Zika cases, the highest of any state in Brazil, and its Zika incidence rate of 157 cases per 100,000 people is the fourth worst. Attaran says "Rio is not on the fringes of the outbreak, but inside its heart."

He says it is unknown how the winter months from July to September will effect Zika, though he says it is "probably true" that the cooler temperatures will mean fewer mosquitoes and thus an "ebb" in Zika cases.

His second point is that the viral strain of Zika "is clearly new, different, and vastly more dangerous than "old" Zika".

"Third, while Brazil’s Zika inevitably will spread globally — given enough time, viruses always do — it helps nobody to speed that up. In particular, it cannot possibly help when an estimated 500,000 foreign tourists flock into Rio for the Games, potentially becoming infected, and returning to their homes where both local Aedes mosquitoes and sexual transmission can establish new outbreaks.

"Fourth, when (not if) the Games speed up Zika’s spread, the already-urgent job of inventing new technologies to stop it becomes harder.

"Fifth, proceeding with the Games violates what the Olympics stand for. The International Olympic Committee writes that "Olympism seeks to create … social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles". But how socially responsible or ethical is it to spread disease?"

The medical director of the 2016 Australian Olympic Team issued a response to Attaran’s commentary.

Dr. David Hughes said "Given that there is no chance that the Games are going to be shifted to another venue, I believe we can proceed with confidence, knowing that we have appropriate guidelines and preventative measures in place. The risk will never be zero but we are well prepared to prevent mosquito-borne infection and to deal with any infections that do arise.

"I think the article makes some good points. It is certainly less than ideal to send half a million people into an area where there is an active infectious disease outbreak. You can almost guarantee that some of those people will become ill. You can almost guarantee that it will increase the speed at which the disease spreads around the world.

"However I believe the AOT is as well-prepared as it can be to prevent Zika infection and/or minimize the consequences."

Recently, senior Rio health officials told Around the Rings that they believe their biggest worry for Rio 2016 won’t be the Zika virus but rather H1N1, also known as the swine flu. They are urging visitors to get flu vaccinations before coming to Rio.

Joao Grangeiro, the director of medical services for the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee believes that the increased efforts to control mosquitoes during the recent summer months in Brazil could lead to even fewer mosquitoes and even fewer Zika cases than expected during the colder months.

Daniel Soranz, the municipal secretary of health for the city of Rio de Janeiro, says the normally colder temperatures and lack of rainfall in August and September means fewer mosquitoes and what he calls a "very low prevalence" of Zika.

Written by Gerard Farek

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