Keep training, Filipino athletes advised; no warning yet on Zika

THE DEPARTMENT of Health (DOH) has not advised Filipino athletes against participating in the Olympic in August in Brazil, where there is an ongoing outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus, which has been linked to birth defects.

DOH spokesperson Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy said the health department would continue to monitor and assess the situation in Brazil and come up with its recommendation by July, a month before the world’s biggest multisport event is to take place.

“What we want is for our athletes to be able to focus on their preparations for the event. We don’t want them to be bothered [by this] so they can concentrate on their training and bring home an Olympic medal,” Lee Suy told reporters at a recent health forum.

The Philippines is expected to field at least 15 athletes in the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro from Aug. 5 to 21.

Brazil President Dilma Rousseff earlier said the Olympics would push through and the current medical situation would not compromise the staging of the historic event.

Rousseff expressed confidence her government would have made substantial progress in eliminating the carrier of the virus, the Aedes aegypti mosquito, by August.

In the United States, the Olympic Committee has advised sports federations that athletes concerned over potential risks they may face from the Zika virus may consider skipping the Olympics.

Spreading rapidly

The Zika virus, which has recently been found to be also transmissible through sexual contact, has been spreading rapidly throughout Latin America. It was first detected in May last year in Brazil, where health authorities had also observed a spike in cases of microcephaly among newborns.

The symptoms of the virus are similar to the dengue virus, only milder, according to health officials. But pregnant women are the most vulnerable as they could pass on the virus to their unborn baby and that may cause microcephaly, a condition where the baby’s head is smaller than normal.

“We want to first see the situation in July and by then we’ll come up with an advisory for our athletes,” said Lee Suy.

“If the cases are still high, then maybe we shouldn’t allow them to go. But if it is already under control, why should we prevent them from going?” he said.