Olympia: Can the Games accelerate the spread?
Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.
More posts by Christiane Fux All content is checked by medical journalists.Experts warn that Zika could spread faster around the world as a result of Olympic tourism. Would Germany also be affected?
On the 5thAugust is the starting shot for the Olympic Games. Around 450 German Olympians are to travel to Brazil, accompanied by a crowd of several thousand supporters and fans. When they return, they could bring in the Zika virus as an unwelcome souvenir. But how great is the risk - here in Germany, but also for the rest of the world?
There has only been an official reporting requirement for Zika sufferers in Germany for a month. But the Robert Koch Institute has already registered twelve cases of illness. "We assume that all sick people were infected while traveling," a spokeswoman for the institute told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.
The number of unreported cases is likely to be significantly higher, because Zika infections go unnoticed in most cases and therefore do not even lead those affected to the doctor. With the increased tourism in Brazil in the course of the Olympic Games, the number of infected people in this country could actually multiply.
Is it over for the 2016 Olympics?
Health experts from all over the world would therefore prefer to postpone the games - or even cancel them entirely. In an open letter to the World Health Organization (WHO), 188 of them advised against hosting the Games in Brazil, with half a million tourists expected to bring the virus to their home countries, the experts warned.
Because despite intensive control measures with educational measures and poison spraying columns, the Brazilians have so far not been able to contain the plague - on the contrary. A clear indication of this is provided by the increased reports of dengue fever compared to the previous year. The disease is caused by viruses from the same family and transmitted by the same species of mosquito, but symptoms are far more common. In this respect, the rising number of illnesses is a worrying indicator for Zika.
Dangerous not only for the unborn
And the disease can be dangerous - not just for the unborn. It was the pictures of children with deformed skulls that shook the world up. However, in addition to the microcephaly associated with severe intellectual disabilities, Zika seems to be at risk of one with a high degree of probability Guillain-Barré-Syndrome to increase, a potentially fatal disease of the nerve tracts with paralysis of the extremities - and the respiratory muscles.
WHO weighs it down
But the WHO itself appeased. The WHO argues that the games are not decisive for the international spread of the Zika virus. In fact, Brazil is only one of 60 countries where Zika has been transmitted by mosquito bite to date.
Zika in Germany
Whether the games take place or not: In the summer you could theoretically get infected with Zika within Germany, confirms the Robert Koch Institute. However, only under certain conditions: the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), which occurs selectively in southern Germany, should actually be able to transmit Zika. This has not yet been proven. The weather should be warm enough for mosquito activity. Then a specimen would actually have to meet a person who was previously infected elsewhere. And the animal would have to survive long enough to sting another person. All in all, a scenario that the risk for the individual tends towards zero.
Safe sex for weeks after the trip
Irrespective of this, however, there is also the possibility of infection during sex with an infected man. It has been proven that the virus can be transmitted not only through mosquito bites, but also during sexual intercourse - albeit with a much lower probability. The WHO therefore recommends, in addition to avoiding travel for pregnant women and avoiding slums, also practicing safer sex in Zika regions. Incidentally, the condom recommendation does not only apply during your stay, but also for weeks afterwards. And it also applies to travelers who do not notice any symptoms in themselves. Because even those who do not feel the disease themselves can pass it on.
Sources:
Robert Koch Institute, www.rki.de, accessed June 1, 2016
Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, www.noz.de, accessed June 1, 2016
Open Letter to Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General, WHO, http://rioolympicslater.org/, accessed June 1, 2016
