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Call to cancel 2016 Olympics because of Zika risk is not backed by WHO guidance
BMJ 2016; 353 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i2899 (Published 20 May 2016) Cite this as: BMJ 2016;353:i2899
- Rebecca Coombes,
- head of features and investigations
- The BMJ
- rcoombes{at}bmj.com
A call by a leading public health expert to cancel this summer’s Olympic Games in Brazil for fear of accelerating a global spread of the Zika virus has been quelled by new World Health Organization guidance, which backs travel but advises athletes and visitors to take simple steps to manage health risks.
Writing in the Harvard Public Health Review this month,1 Amir Attaran, professor in the faculties of law and medicine at the University of Ottawa in Canada, described Rio de Janeiro as being at the “heart” of the current Zika epidemic and said that the Olympic organisers must confront “the bitter truth: the 2016 Olympic …