Even as some athletes say they won’t go to Brazil this summer for the Olympics because of the Zika outbreak, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday there’s no reason people shouldn’t travel there.
“We don’t see a public health reason to postpone or cancel the Olympics,” Dr. Tom Frieden said during an address to the Atlanta Press Club.
His statement comes as the World Health Organization's Emergency Committee on Zika prepares to take up the travel question in the next couple of weeks. So far, both health agencies have said people shouldn't change their Olympic travel plans in light of the outbreak. Late last month, the WHO issued a statement saying cancellation of the event "will not significantly alter the international spread of Zika virus."
The Atlanta-based CDC has had teams of researchers in Brazil since the outbreak picked up speed earlier this year. The country has been the epicenter of the outbreak in the Americas. Because of this, Frieden said, “there’s likely to be some transmission in Brazil during the Olympics.”
The CDC has been in constant contact with the U.S. Olympic Committee and will provide “any help they need,” he said, for the duration of the games which begin in August.
Perhaps the only athletes or travelers who should not attend or participate in the Olympics would be those who are pregnant or planning to start families in the near future, Frieden told the press club.
Zika is primarily transmitted by two types of mosquitoes that are prevalent in the Americas. In that way, it "hitchhikes in the blood of people," Frieden said. After infection, most people don't know they have it and face no long-term health defects. Only one in five people ever have any symptoms, which include rash, conjunctivitis, fever and sore joints. But the disease's silence makes it that much more insidious. Zika can cause severe birth defects in fetuses of pregnant women who contract it. Microcephaly, which stunts brain development and causes a fetus' skull to collapse around the tiny brain, is the most dreaded of all the defects.
While pregnant women face the greatest danger from the virus, it also has been linked to the immune disorder, Guillain-Barre Syndrome.
Researchers aren't sure how long Zika persists in the blood but believe it does so for at least 10 days. In recent months, the virus has been found to be passed along through sexual contact more easily than researchers thought possible.
For this reason the CDC has proposed strict sexual conduct guidelines for anyone who has traveled to a Zika affected area. The agency has advised against any type of unprotected sex for at least two months after traveling to a country where the virus is present. It also advises people to wear insect repellent for three weeks upon return home.
What this means for Olympic travelers is a question athletes and fans will have to weigh for themselves, Frieden said.
“Anytime you travel there’s a risk,” Frieden said. “You make a decision every time you travel, is it worth the risk.”
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