Ministries of Health and Sports draw up recommendation guide on Zika virus for Rio 2016 Olympic Games

The Secretary-General for Health and Consumption, Javier Castrodeza, met on Tuesday with the State Secretary for Sport and the President of the National Sports Council, Miguel Cardenal, the Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cristóbal González Aller and the Director-General of Civil Protection, under the umbrella of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Juan Antonio Díaz Cruz, to step up coordinated action on the Zika virus in light of the upcoming Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Given the travel plans of many athletes and fans, the Ministries of Health and Sport have agreed to jointly draft a recommendation guide based on the current recommendations made by the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality.

The vast majority of those infected by the Zika virus do not suffer from any disease, while those who are sick generally only suffer minor symptoms, and hence the virus should not be grounds for concern for the majority of those attending the upcoming Olympic Games. The public health concern is due to the detection of classes of certain deformities in newborns whose mothers were apparently infected with the Zika virus during their pregnancy, although this relationship is still being studied.

For this reason, the recommendations include advising pregnant women and women who are trying to become pregnant to postpone their trip to those areas of indigenous transmission, unless essential, and fostering precautionary measures to avoid mosquito bites for other travellers. As well as drawing up a specific guide, the National Sports Council will offer a link on its web page to the recommendations of the Ministry of Health.

The representatives of the Ministries of Health, Sport and Foreign Affairs, and Civil Protection also agreed to step up internal coordination and coordination with international organisations, such as the Pan American Health Organization, the International Olympic Committee and the World Health Organization, and enquire after the measures being adopted at the Olympic venues and, in particular, at the Olympic Village.