Olympic Council of Ireland ‘monitoring’ Zika outbreak ahead of Rio 2016

Between five and 10 refugees from multiple countries will compete under the Olympic flag. She discovered the baby had the condition before Alice was born.

Earlier, Dr. Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the virus is in an infected person’s bloodstream only very briefly and that most have it cleared in about a week.

“We are losing the battle in a big way”, Marcelo Castro, Brazil’s health minister, told reporters after meeting with President Dilma Rousseff late on Monday.

This was the first time the virus was seen outside of Africa and Asia, and about 180 people had symptoms such as rashes, joint pain and conjunctivitis, according to the World Health Organization.

This week in Rio de Janeiro, more than 3,000 city workers have been spraying insecticide and searching for mosquitoes in preparation for the upcoming festivities.

“The risk is no joke, so we will maintain this inspection programme until the end of the Paralympics”, Andrada said, referring to the multisport event that will be held in September, after the Olympics.

Zika is believed to cause birth defects in pregnant women.

Bach said the fact that the Olympics will take place in August, during Brazil’s winter, could mitigate the impact of the Zika outbreak.

But travel agents and hotel operators in Brazil say that, while they are receiving a lot of questions about the precautions the government is taking, the Zika scare has yet to lead to many cancellations from would-be visitors.

Rio officials are trying to combat the problem by getting the word out on preventive measures, and cleaning up the puddles and other areas where the mosquitoes thrive.

Infectious disease specialist Kyle Petersen spent years studying Zika virus as commanding officer of Naval Medical Research Unit 6 (NAMRU-6) in Lima, Peru.

Zika is transmitted through mosquito bites.

Dr. Bruce Aylward, who runs WHO’s outbreak response department, said any country that has the Aedes mosquito should be concerned about the possibility of the Zika virus arriving.

Brazil has been one of the hardest hit countries and the authorities are under intense pressure domestically to contain the Zika epidemic right away, regardless of the Olympics. Clinical testing is expected to start later this year for vaccines now in the development pipeline.

Meanwhile, doctors and public health administrators say the challenge is to get citizens engaged in the struggle against the mosquito.

In Rio, health agents sometimes can not even enter neighborhoods because of crime and security risks.

Officials said Thursday the 31 people are in 11 states and Washington.

“At the same time, we are assisting high-level refugee athletes to continue their sports careers”, he said.