RIO DE JANEIRO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Unusually wet weather, poor sanitation and a public health service weakened by economic crisis are contributing to an outbreak in Brazil of Zika, a mosquito-carried virus linked to a surge in cases of children born with brain damage, health experts say.
Researchers believe the virus – first thought to be relatively innocuous – may have arrived in Brazil during the 2014 football World Cup, carried by visitors from French Polynesia, where an outbreak had just occurred.
“The virus found the perfect conditions in Brazil: a very efficient vector that loves human blood, millions of susceptible victims with no antibodies, ideal climate, and lots of places to breed,” said Ricardo Lourenço, who studies tropical infectious diseases at Brazil’s Oswaldo Cruz Institute.
Read the full story on why they believe it is unsafe for pregnant women to attend the 2016 Olympics here.
