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 With as many as one million people expected to attend the spectacle,
half of them foreigners, Rio de Janeiro has not turned out to be the
Zika hothouse some athletes and visitors feared as the virus wreaked
havoc in Brazil earlier this year.
Despite some hot days, swings back to cooler temperatures in
Brazil's winter mean that the population of the mosquito responsible
for spreading the virus has dwindled.
And Rio itself never endured an epidemic as grave as many scientists
had feared early this year. Even with thousands of reported cases of
Zika during hot months, Rio was not hit as hard by the virus as
Brazil's northeast, for reasons that scientists and the government
do not yet understand.
"I'm really not concerned," said Dutch beach volleyball player
Alexander Brouwar after a match in the towering metal arena set up
for the sport on Rio's famed Copacabana beach.
"I haven't seen one mosquito," he added.
STILL EARLY
The ongoing Zika outbreak was first detected last year in Brazil,
where it has been linked to more than 1,700 cases of microcephaly -
a birth defect marked by small head size - in babies of infected
mothers. There is no vaccine for Zika, which usually only causes
mild flu-like symptoms in those infected.
The virus is still spreading globally and has affected at least 54
countries, according to the World Health Organization. That includes
the United States, where authorities on Monday said they were
investigating a new case of local transmission in Florida.
It is also still early in the Games. Any sustained increase in
temperature, though not expected until the local summer approaches
later this year, could cause a rebound in mosquito populations. And
those who get the virus normally do so within days of being bitten
by a mosquito infected with Zika.
But with very few cases of Zika reported in Rio in recent weeks, the
mosquitoes themselves, if they appear, have few sources of even
picking it up. Aedes aegypti, the mosquito primarily responsible for
spreading Zika, transmits it by biting an infected person and then
moving on to another.
Compared with January, when more than 7,700 cases of Zika were
reported in Rio, only about 140 cases were reported during the month
of July, according to municipal figures through July 28, the latest
available.
Several competitors, including golfers Jason Day and Rory McIlroy,
skipped the games because of Zika and some did attend, but expressed
concern about the disease, including British heptathlete Jessica
Ennis-Hill and U.S. women's soccer goalkeeper Hope Solo.
But the subject has died down among athletes.
"I've not even heard anybody talk about it," said Helen Glover, a
British rower who was a 2012 gold medalist, noting the low-level of
concern.
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LEAVING LITTLE TO CHANCE
Yet local authorities and Olympic organizers are staying cautious.
"We cannot leave this to chance," Mario Andrada, a spokesman for
local organizers, told reporters at a briefing on Monday, stressing
that anti-mosquito measures they have been using for months will
remain in place throughout the Games.
In addition to air conditioning in athletes' rooms, meant to keep
them from opening their windows in high temperatures, Olympic
officials have made insect repellent available for free to them in
housing, training and competition facilities.
Municipal health agents have been scouring venues and popular
tourists sites to eliminate stagnant water and other areas where
Aedes lay eggs.
Meanwhile, the Olympics are still a stage for Zika-related marketing
by companies which see opportunity in any lingering fears, from
aggressive advertising by repellent manufacturers to a couple of
condom makers who touted Zika-proof prophylactics – never mind that
any condom would suffice in protecting against rare cases of Zika
transmission through semen.
Given the lack of mosquitoes, most visitors are brushing off any
concerns. "I didn't bring any repellent," said Sophie Bahgeri, a
25-year-old Australian strolling along the beach.
Even those with most reason for worry say they are much more relaxed
about the virus than they had been.
"I can't remember the last person I heard of coming down with Zika,"
said Fabiana Macedo, a 30-year-old resident of Tabajares, a Rio slum
whose dense population and poor sanitation is the sort of community
most affected by the outbreak.
(Additional reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer, Angus MacSwan, Brad
Brooks, Alexandra Ulmer, Jeb Blount and Daniel Flynn; Editing by
Bill Rigby)
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