Zika Risk: International Health Expert Says Rio’s Olympic Games “Must Not Proceed”

A warning that the Rio Olympics should be cancelled or suffer a potential global catastrophe, has been announced by Ottawa University’s Professor Amir Attaran. The professor, an expert in international health has warned that the Zika virus poses a threat much greater than leading authorities are willing to admit to.

Professor Attaran announced on Australia’s ABC NewsRadio’s The Ticket, that the Zika virus is thriving in Brazil, following an article he published in Harvard Public Health Review stating similar.

“There are now 7,000 children that the Brazilian government is investigating for microcephaly – that’s the condition where the poor kids are born with shrunken heads and brain damage,” Professor Attaran said.

“That sort of damage could easily spread by sending in, not just the athletes, but the 500,000 tourists from abroad to Rio where they can become infected and return to other countries, including Australia, and help spread this disease.”

His announcement coincides with the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) issuing a statement saying that athletes should remain confident that their health is not at risk. “Athletes can head to Rio with confidence, knowing the appropriate measures are in place against Zika,” the announcement said.

“Rio is ground zero of the epidemic. In fact, no state in Brazil has more cases of Zika than Rio,” Professor Attaran said. “My basic point is this, but for the Olympics, would anyone in their right mind send a half million people into the heart an epidemic to pick it up and return them to all corners of the world? Of course not, that would be foolish.

“But because of the Olympics, we’re pretending this is not a problem? That’s just too illogical and unethical for words.”

The World Health Organisation released their own statement after the publication of Attaran’s article, saying they’d continue to monitor and advise the International Olympic Committee of the Zika situation, but never refuted his claims.

“Simply put, Zika infection is more dangerous, and Brazil’s outbreak more extensive, than scientists reckoned a short time ago. Which leads to a bitter truth: the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games must be postponed, moved, or both, as a precautionary concession,” Professor Attaran said in his article, stating five main reasons why.

One reason was not just the risk of fetal abnormalities, but the effects of the adult nervous system, noting “findings are not good” and that “exposure is linked to Guillain-Barré disease, increasing the odds 60 fold.”

Professor Attaran makes a compelling argument in his short article, stating that those with a financial stake in the Olympics will suffer little compared to the pandemic’s misery that will spread with 500,000 people attending the event. The exposure, he says, will rob the scientific community of precious “time” needed to combat Zika with vaccines and other treatments.

According to the AOC’s Medical Commission, Professor Attaran’s dire warning was blatantly dismissed.

Dr David Hughes, the Australian Olympic Teams medical director said specific protocols were in place for treating any Australian athlete showing signs of being unwell after contact with contaminated water…

But one wonders about the half a million that could potentially be infected in Rio?

Sources: Harvard Public Health Review, ABC News.

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