Organizers say venues used in this year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will be inspected daily during game times in a bid to prevent the spread of a mosquito-borne virus that has been linked to a rare birth defect and also a condition that can cause paralysis.
Brazil is suffering from an outbreak of Zika virus, which health officials here say may be behind a spike in cases of microcephaly, when infants are born with unusually small heads, as well as the paralysis-causing Guillain-Barre syndrome. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised pregnant women to reconsider travel to Brazil and 21 other countries with Zika outbreaks.
The Rio 2016 local organizing committee said Sunday inspectors will try to eliminate stagnant waters where mosquitoes breed.
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