Pau Gasol considering skipping Olympics because of Zika

Maybe the most high-profile athlete to express these concerns publicly is Pau Gasol, who is slated to play for the Spanish men’s basketball team in Rio.

He mentioned that some of the athletes that are planning to participate are also planning to have a family in the future, and he won’t be surprised if some of these athletes back out from the Olympics because they want to protect their families. “I think it is a sufficiently important issue that it should be considered”, the Chicago Bulls player told reporters at an event for one of his sponsors in Madrid.

The World Health Organisation (WHO), on Tuesday said travelers should practice safe sex for no less than eight weeks after returning from areas with Zika infections, doubling the time period that was recommended in its previous guideline.

Perhaps by Gasol taking a stand, other athletes will follow suit and the International Olympic Committee will take a serious look at the safety of this summer’s games.

Gasol said he has spoken to other athletes who were considering whether to compete at the Games. Aside from the crippling economic woes of the host country – not to mention the suspension and impending impeachment of their President – Brazil is facing backlash from the world health community over concerns for the Zika virus. It argued that Brazil is only one of dozens of countries where mosquitoes transmit the Zika virus and says “people continue to travel between these countries and territories for a variety of reasons”.

WHO, however, said “based on current assessment, cancelling or changing the location of the 2016 Olympics will not significantly alter the global spread of Zika virus“.

Zika has now been proven to cause a range of severe birth defects to unborn babies, including brain-damaged babies born with abnormally small heads and a rare neurological disorder that is sometimes fatal and can cause temporary paralysis. “We know very little and we aren’t as anxious as we should be”, added Gasol, who said the epidemic is “a reality”, which has “been around now for more than a year and has spread to 60 countries”.

“It should be noted that not everybody that contracts the Zika virus during pregnancy do these problems happen to their baby, but we don’t know enough to predict who it will and who it won’t affect”, Dr. Sewell said.

This would be Gasol’s fourth Olympic games: Spain placed seventh overall in 2004 before earning the silver medal in both 2008 and 2012.

Monday also saw 186 scientists write an open letter to the World Health Organization warning that Zika poses greater dangers than many believe.