More than 40 athletes with Michigan ties will compete in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Opening ceremonies were held Friday in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. The games are happening with concerns about the Zika virus, as it’s circulating in Brazil and other parts of Latin America. Michigan State Entomology and Microbiology Professor Ned Walker says anyone at the Olympics is at risk, especially pregnant women.
“Many people who are exposed don’t develop illness,” Walker said. “Some people do. Then, of course, there’s this phenomenon of it briding between the mother and the developing baby, the fetus, and then resulting in the problem of microcephaly.”
That’s a birth defect where the baby’s head is smaller than expected and their brain may not have developed properly. Walker says athletes and spectators will have to use mosquito repellant to avoid Zika.
