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WHO To Discuss Zika Scare In 2106 Olympics

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The World Health Organization’s Emergency Committee on Zika will be meeting in the next few weeks to discuss the risks and concerns surrounding health and safety in the upcoming Summer Olympics to be held this August in Brazil, a WHO spokesperson announced.

According to a report from Reuters, WHO spokesperson Nyka Alexander said,

The Emergency Committee meeting will consider the situation in Brazil, including the question of the Olympics.

WHO is in charge of making risk assessments of public health issues and the International Olympics Committee (IOC) will then make the final decision on whether or not the Olympics will push through in Rio de Janeiro set to begin August 5.

“It is not within our mandate,” Alexander said with regards to decision-making on the event. A spokesperson for the Olympics has said that they will follow WHO recommendations regarding the Zika virus scare.

Athletes will then have to decide on their own if they want to risk the virus in order to compete and obtain those much-coveted medals. This week, cyclist Tejay Van Garderen already withdrew from consideration for the US Team because he was concerned about the risks the virus might present for his pregnant wife.

Dr. David Heymann, chairman of the WHO committee of independent experts, told Reuters last Monday that postponing the Olympics because people fear they might get infected and spread it to others would give people a “false” sense of security as visitors and citizens constantly travel to and from Brazil.

When the Games start, it will be winter so there are less disease-carrying mosquitoes around, WHO experts said.

Last week, 150 public health officials and scientists penned a public letter calling for the Olympics to be postponed over fears that the event would increase the risk of Zika spreading.

Top US health officials agreed with WHO experts that Zika was not enough of a threat to move the Olympics. Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that travel to Rio would represent less than a quarter of 1% of all Zika-affected places, and the risk was low, except in pregnant women.

Women who are pregnant or hoping to get pregnant should stay away from places known for Zika outbreaks.

US Senator Jeanne Shaheen had asked WHO experts to analyse whether the Brazil Games could speed up the spread of the virus.

Alexander said the next WHO Emergency Committee meeting is still to be decided, but that it would be this month. Heymann said it has been tentatively scheduled for June 21.

Heymann also cautioned national health authorities to advise their own athletes and citizens to protect themselves against the disease, especially when in Brazil, and to practice safe sex upon returning to their home countries for at least three weeks.

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