NEW YORK, REUTERS, Feb 9, 2016 – The United States Olympic Committee told U.S. sports federations that athletes and staff concerned for their health over the Zika virus should consider not going to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in August.
    The message was delivered in a conference call involving USOC officials and leaders of U.S. sport federations in late January, according to two people who participated in the call.
   Federations were told that no one should go to Brazil “if they don’t feel comfortable going. Bottom line,” said Donald Anthony, president and board chairman of USA Fencing.
The USOC’s briefing to sport federations is the latest sign that Olympics officials are taking the Zika threat to the games in Rio de Janeiro seriously, and acknowledging that at least some athletes and support staff could face a tough decision over whether to attend.
Global health authorities suspect the mosquito-borne Zika virus has caused a spike in Brazil of microcephaly, a birth defect marked by an abnormally small head. As a result, the World Health Organization declared an international health emergency Feb. 1, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is advising pregnant women or those considering becoming pregnant to avoid travel to places with Zika outbreaks.
    Zika outbreaks have been reported in 33 countries, most of them in the Americas. Symptoms of infection often are mild or imperceptible. But the outbreak in Brazil that began last year has been accompanied by more than 4,000 cases of suspected microcephaly; investigators have confirmed more than 400. The link to Zika is unproven but strongly suspected.
In El Salvador, which is experiencing outbreaks of the virus, women are being advised to put off pregnancy until 2018.
    In a Jan. 29 letter from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to national committees, the IOC’s chief doctors said they were monitoring the situation closely. They passed along mosquito avoidance advice, but remained confident the games would go ahead as planned.
The Australian and New Zealand Olympic Committees said they had already warned their athletes of the potential dangers for pregnant women.
“If any athletes on the team felt they didn’t want to go, we would absolutely support them on that,” an NZOC spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
An Australian Olympic Committee spokeswoman said they would “totally understand” if an athlete chose not to go to Brazil.
“But at this point no athletes have indicated they intend to withdraw from the team,” she added.
   
 An ongoing Zika epidemic could prompt some athletes, staff, sponsors and high-spending tourists to steer clear of the Games. Even if the risk of infection to any given visitor is very low – as health experts expect – uncertainties persist. There is no Zika vaccine, and currently available blood tests cannot always detect the virus.