Just some weeks before the Olympics is due to begin, more than 100 leading scientists have urged that the Rio Olympics should be moved or postponed over the Zika outbreak.
According to the group, new findings about the virus make it “unethical” for the games to go ahead.
In an open letter to the World Health Organisation, the group says the virus “harms health in ways that science has not observed before” and has linked to serious birth defects including abnormally small heads in babies.
The group said: “An unnecessary risk is posed when 500,000 foreign tourists from all countries attend the Games, potentially acquire that strain and return home to places where it can become endemic.
“Should that happen to poor, as-yet unaffected places (eg, most of South Asia and Africa) the suffering can be great.”
In the letter, which is signed by 150 international scientists, doctors and medical ethicists from institutions like Oxford University, Harvard and Yale, the group pointed out that current mosquito-killing programmes in Rio were ineffective and also highlighted Brazil’s “weakened” health system.
Dengue fever, which is spread by the same mosquito, has infected many more people in 2016 than the past two years.
The group also claimed the WHO had a conflict of interest due to a decades-long partnership with the International Olympic Committee and said previous statements by WHO officials had been “troubling.”
They wrote: “To prejudge that ‘there’s not going to be a lot of problems’ before reviewing this evidence is extremely inappropriate of WHO and suggests that a change in leadership may be required to restore WHO’s credibility.”
They recommend WHO appoint an independent group to advise it and the IOC in a “transparent, evidence-based process in which science, public health and the spirit of sport come first.
“Given the public health and ethical consequences, not doing so is irresponsible.”
The organisation, which declared the Zika virus a global public health emergency, is yet to comment on the letter.
The Rio Olympics will take place between 5-21 August.