Rio 2016 Olympics - Do new health risks justify re-location?

by David Schmidt, Sail-World on 30 Jan 2016 Right now, many of the world’s great One Design sailors are gathered in Miami for the Sailing World Cup Miami (January 23-30, 2016), which is one of the last major international events of this quadrennial. All of these athletes have dedicated years of their lives to achieving excellence in the sport of sailing, and all have deferred many of life’s other meaningful goals-such as careers or starting families-in order to try to win glory for their countries.

Yet as these dedicated athletes fight hard to do well in a regatta that (country depending) helps determine Olympic berths, a little-known virus is putting the Olympics-and possibly their futures-at risk.

For those who have not been following the headlines, Brazil and other South American countries are experiencing a widespread outbreak of the Zika virus, which is transmitted by mosquito bites (and possibly through bodily fluids, but this has yet to be proven), and from pregnant mothers to their unborn children.

According to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), Zika is typically spread by the “Aedes” species of mosquito, which is also the vector for the dengue fever and chikungunya viruses.

Aedes mosquitoes lay their eggs in standing water, and they aggressively seek out human blood as their preferred food source. These mosquitos contract the Zika virus by feeding on the blood of an infected person, and they spread it to the next person at their next feeding.

There is no known cure for Zika, and experts are saying that a vaccine could take between six months and five years to be developed. Also, according to the CDC, only one in five people who contract the Zika virus experience any effects, which can run the gamut from mild symptoms to fevers, rashes, joint pain, or conjunctivitis.

In some cases, the Zika virus has been linked to Guillain-Barre syndrome, an autoimmune disease that can lead to paralysis lasting up to several months.

Even more worrisome is the fact that health officials strongly believe that there is a correlation between the virus and a surge in the number of babies born with microcephaly-a birth defect where children are born with significantly smaller heads than healthy infants. This in turn leads to a raft of other problems for the baby, including mental disabilities, seizures, and developmental issues. According to the UK’s Daily Mail, more than 4,000 babies have been born with microcephaly since the Zika outbreak began-a rate that’s exponentially higher than usual.

As a result of the Zika outbreak and the possible connection to microcephaly, several Central and South American countries-including Ecuador, El Salvador, Jamaica and Colombia-have asked women to avoid becoming pregnant for the next two years (according to several experts this is an almost impossible ask, given the local cultures), and other countries-including the USA-are asking pregnant women to avoid travel to countries and regions where the Zika virus is present.

Some airlines-including United-are offering some ticketed passengers (e.g., pregnant women, or women who plan to become pregnant) headed to the affected regions an option to delay their trip or to get a refund.

While there is a strong chance that the Zika virus will spread to other areas of the world where the Aedes mosquito is found (read: all of North and South America, with the exception of Canada, as well as wide swaths of the rest of the planet including much of Africa and Asia), there is an equally strong chance that travelers and athletes who are attending the Games could inadvertently accelerate this spread by bringing the Zika virus back home to their family, friends and communities.

Then there’s the question of how long one can remain infected and therefore serve as a vector for the virus. This last point is especially worrisome for women of childbearing age, as women can transmit the Zika virus to their unborn babies. Worse still, depending on the duration that a human can serve as a Zika vector, it could take years to know the full extent of the microcephaly risk.

Remember: Only twenty percent of all infected persons experience the symptoms, but that does not mean that they can’t still be vectors for their disease, either via mosquito bite, or possibly through bodily fluids. Remember also that many athletes have dedicated years of their lives to achieving Olympic Gold at the expense of their other dreams, including having children.

While the 2016 Rio Olympics will be taking place during Brazil’s winter, when conditions are markedly drier and therefore less friendly towards the Aedes mosquito, the International Olympic Committee has just over six months to consider a Plan B, should it be necessary to move the Games from Rio to an area that will be safe for athletes and visitors alike. Given the massive influx of athletes, visitors and media that an Olympic Games creates, six months does not leave the Olympic planners much time for recourse, should it be necessary to pivot locations.

Sadly, the Zika virus is just one of several significant problems facing Brazil ahead of their scheduled time in the international limelight as an Olympic host. The country is in the deep freezes of a painful recession; there is reported political unrest and crime, and there’s the poignant issue of the heavily polluted Guanabara Bay and the Brazilian government’s broken promises to have significantly cleaned up the Bay prior to the Games.

While there have been plenty of loud grumbles from sailors and teams alike-not to mention myriad articles-about the sorry state of Guanabara Bay, the reality is that sailors were willing to brave fecal-choked waters and the errant dead dog or floating sofa in order to compete on an Olympic level, but to ask the athletes, spectators and international media to expose themselves to the Zika virus-and possibly ruin their chances of having normal babies-represents an entirely new level of subjective risk.

The simple fact that governments and organizations such as the CDC are issuing travel warnings-and in the case of Ecuador, El Salvador, Jamaica and Colombia, are asking women to delay pregnancies-should be warning enough for the International Olympic Committee to seriously consider changing venues for this summer. Couple this with all of Brazil’s other shortcomings, outright failures (read: Guanabara Bay), and economic and political frailties, and the situation in Rio looks downright shaky (at best) some 200 days before the start of the 2016 Summer Games.