During most Olympic games, Americans patriotically rally around our athletes and root for them to bring home the gold. This summer, however, there is ominous concern that our athletes, their families and tens of thousands of fans will bring home something from Rio de Janeiro nobody wants: the Zika virus.
It’s the type of scenario that induces dread in many infectious diseases specialists. Imagine: Come August, a flood of Olympic athletes and half a million spectators pouring into a mosquito-infested city where Zika continues to swirl.
Some experts now believe that the risk of contracting Zika during the Olympics will be negligible; I hope they are right. On the other hand, several months ago, Art Caplan, the noted medical ethicist, wrote: “Holding the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro is senseless and irresponsible.”
I agree with him, and here’s why: Zika’s effects are subtle and inconsistent. Many folks who contract the virus may never know they’re infected — others suffer a mild, short-lived illness that is barely noticed or quickly forgotten.
[See: 10 Seemingly Innocent Symptoms You Shouldn’t Ignore.]
But not all of them. In some cases, there are severe complications like Guillain Barre syndrome, a condition in which the body’s immune system attacks the peripheral nervous system. According to preliminary findings, exposure to Zika is now associated with a 60-fold increased risk of GBS — a disease that can cause temporary or even permanent paralysis, including breathing muscles.
Zika is also associated with encephalitis, or swelling of the brain, the most extreme cases of which can be life-threatening.
Finally, we come to the central tragedy of Zika — fetal infection leading to microcephaly plus other forms of congenital damage. It’s currently estimated that anywhere from 1 to 13 percent of unborn babies infected with Zika during the first trimester of pregnancy will later develop microcephaly. (Experts are just beginning to tally Zika’s other thuggish assaults.)
So, beyond the immediate threat of Zika to the hundreds of thousands of athletes, families and fans in Rio de Janeiro, there may be countless millions across the globe who risk suffering from imported infections.
The only known way to prevent Zika is to avoid mosquito bites entirely, but one has to wonder: Will all of those in Brazil for the Olympics faithfully apply repellent, don insecticide-impregnated clothing and practice protected sex during and after their stay? Or will some return home and accelerate the spread of this neuro-virulent virus, either by intimate human contact or by being bitten by local Aedes mosquitoes?
Even though we are still learning how long Zika persists in blood or body fluids, this much we do know: A single viral introduction in the right ecologic setting is all it would take to ignite new global flames.
[See: 10 Questions Doctors Wish Their Patients Would Ask.]
While making his case against holding the Olympics in Brazil, Art Caplan offered an alternative. Instead of cancelling the games all together, why don’t we simply postpone them six months, or perhaps a year? That could make all the difference in terms of public education, mosquito control, condom campaigns, wider availability of diagnostic tests and a far better grasp of viral dynamics.
It’s undoubtedly too late to stop the games now, but it’s not too late to compel those headed to Rio de Janeiro and other Zika-afflicted areas to take this threat seriously. Halting Zika’s continuing chain of transmission requires purposeful actions on the part of each and every individual who might silently ferry the scourge.
What are those purposeful actions? Let’s get specific. Number one: by avoiding mosquito bites at all costs while visiting the roughly 50 countries and territories where Zika is currently epidemic (for a full list, visit cdc.gov). Number two: by continuing to use mosquito repellent for a full three weeks after returning home. Number three: by practicing safe sex for eight weeks after any possible exposure.
And what about testing, you may be wondering now. During the first week following the inoculation of virus by an infected Aedes mosquito, both blood and urine can be used to detect Zika’s genetic fingerprints. During the second week, urine trumps blood, although blood can still be used. Bottom line: Even if it takes weeks to receive results, the current backlog of tests (which is likely to improve soon) should not deter doctors or patients from submitting samples during this ideal two-week window.
[See: What Your Doctors Wish You Knew.]
There’s no crystal ball to predict whether Zika will continue to circulate in Rio in August — nor is there a magic wand to rid any Zika-ridden haunt of the latest infectious scourge no one ever predicted. But I believe this is one fact on which we can all agree.
Come August, some of us will be preaching responsible prevention of secondary spread to patients, friends and family — neighbors and peers — right here at home.
Dr. Claire Panosian Dunavan is a past president of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and an infectious diseases specialist at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
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Zika and the Olympics: Why We Should All Take the Threat Seriously originally appeared on usnews.com
