Encomium
As athletes gear up for Rio Olympic Games 2016 which begins in Brazil from Friday, August 5 to end on Sunday, August 21, the possibility of contracting the dreaded Zika Virus has beclouded the minds of many with fear.
The dreaded Zika virus was named after Zika Forest in Uganda, when it was discovered in 1947; the virus’ symptoms are mild fever, skin rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise or headache with may last between 2 to 7 days and it spreads majorly through the bite of an infected mosquito and can also be contracted through sex with an infected person.
After Zika had been declared a global public health emergency, WHO later affirmed that there is a “very low risk” of Zika virus spreading globally as a result of holding the Olympics in Brazil.
Though researches project that people usually rarely die of the virus, to be on the safer side, pregnant women are advised to avoid travelling to the Games and visitors are warned to take extra precautions to avoid mosquito bites.
Some sportsmen gripped by the fear will not be gracing the Rio Olympics 2016 . Here is a long list of golfers (and their countries) that has pulled out of the tournament…
Jason Day (Australia), Dustin Johnson (United States), Jordan Spieth (United States), Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), Adam Scott (Australia), Branden Grace (South Africa), Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa), Hideki Matsuyama – Japan, Charl Schwartzel (South Africa), Marc Leishman (Australia), K.T. Kim (South Korea), Francesco Molinari (Italy), Hideto Tanihara (Japan), Graeme McDowell ( Northern Ireland), Victor Dubuisson( France), Matt Jones (Australia), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain), Vijay Singh (Fiji), Brendon de Jonge ( Zimbabwe), Angelo Que (Philippines), Tim Wilkinson (New Zealand)
For the same ‘Zika’ reason, 31-year-old Olympic skier, Lindsey Vonn, as opted out of the game this year, former gymnast Carly Patterson and cyclist Tejay van Garderen too.
With almost 30 participants pulling out, Brazil, the host nation is greatly concerned and has called out for the World Health Organization (WHO) to fight in controlling the virus. A three-front National Plan has been launched to combat the carrier of the disease -Aedes and Microcephaly.
SeyifunmiAdebote for encomium.ng
