Potential Risks to Public Health Related to Communicable Diseases at Olympics and Paralympics Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Sunday, 5th of June 2016

Potential Risks to Public Health Related to Communicable Diseases at Olympics and Paralympics Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

These games, in August and September respectively, pose risks of varying degrees to participants and visitors.

This publication, from the European Centres for Disease Control, looks at the risks in Rio de Janeiro and other sites, notably Manaus.

Excerpts are below; full text is at http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications/Publications/Risk-assessment-mass%20gathering-Rio-2016-10May2016.pdf

Conclusions

Visitors to the Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil will be most at risk of gastrointestinal illness and vector-borne infections. Therefore, they should pay attention to standard hygiene measures to reduce the risk of gastrointestinal illness and protect themselves against mosquito and other insect bites using insect repellent and/or wearing longsleeved shirts and trousers in regions where vector-borne diseases are endemic.

The risk of colonisation (digestive tract carriage) of multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae should be considered for all travellers, irrespective of contact with healthcare facilities while in Brazil, during the three months following their return from Brazil.

Surveillance for communicable diseases should be sensitive enough to detect threats at a stage when interventions are likely to prevent or reduce the impact of outbreaks. The Olympic Games will take place during the winter season in Rio de Janeiro when the cooler and drier weather will reduce mosquito populations. This will significantly lower the risk of mosquito-borne infections for visitors, such as Zika virus, dengue and chikungunya, except in Manaus where some football matches will be held.

Although the probability of being bitten by an infected mosquito is expected to be very low during the events, it cannot be excluded that travellers can become infected and return to regions of the EU where competent vectors are active. This may create an opportunity for local vector-borne transmission in the EU. Over recent years, Brazil has eliminated rubella transmission and, since July 2015, has interrupted measles transmission. These are diseases which are still endemic in many other countries and could be imported to Brazil by international visitors [24].