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Day joins McIlroy, will skip Olympic golf over Zika fears
Top-ranked men’s golfer Jason Day became the latest athlete to pull out of the upcoming Rio de Janeiro Olympics because of fears about the Zika virus.
Day said in a statement that he was opting not to play for Australia in August because of “the potential risks [Zika] may present to my wife’s future pregnancies and to future members of our family.” The couple have two children and would like to have more, Day said.
“Medical experts have confirmed that while perhaps slight, a decision to compete in Rio absolutely comes with health risks to me and my family,” he said. “While it has always been a major goal to compete in the Olympics on behalf of my country, playing golf cannot take precedent over the safety of our family. I will not place them at risk.”
Golf will return to the Olympics for the first time in 112 years missing at least two big stars.
Rory McIlroy, the former world No. 1, said he was placing the health of himself and his family above everything else when he announced recently that he would not play for the Irish team in Rio. McIlroy is engaged to be married and has said he and his fiancee may want to start a family “over the next couple of years.”
Zika infection during pregnancy can cause microcephaly and other serious birth defects, according to the CDC, and it has been linked to Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults. Brazil, which has been at the center of the current outbreak, has seen most of the Zika-related cases of fetal malformations that have occurred worldwide.
Figure 1. : A female Aedes aegypti mosquito, the primary vector of Zika virus, during a blood meal.
Source: James Gathany, CDC
“Even though the risk of infection from the Zika virus is considered low, it is a risk nonetheless and a risk I am unwilling to take,” McIlroy, currently ranked No. 4 in the world, said in a statement.
Zika is primarily spread through the bite of an infected Aedes mosquito, but also can be transmitted sexually and has been detected in semen 62 days after the onset of symptoms. The CDC recommends that people who have traveled to areas where the virus is being actively transmitted, as in Brazil, wait at least 8 weeks before trying to become pregnant, whether they are symptomatic or not. Men experiencing symptoms should wait at least 6 months, the CDC said.
Day and McIlroy are not the only athletes to say Zika concerns will keep them from competing in Rio.
Another Irish golfer, Shane Lowry, said he withdrew from contention after receiving “firm medical advice” that he should not travel to Brazil. Lowry is newly married and hopes to start a family soon, he said.
Last month, well before Day announced he would not play, fellow Australian Marc Leishman withdrew his name from consideration for the Olympic golf team, citing concerns that his wife is prone to infection after her battle last year with toxic shock syndrome. American cyclist Tejay van Garderen, whose wife is pregnant, also said he would not consider competing in Rio due to Zika fears.
Stephen S. Morse
“Top athletes need to concentrate on their game, and if they’re preoccupied with other concerns it’s likely to affect their performance,” Stephen S. Morse, PhD, professor of epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and director of the university’s infectious disease epidemiology certificate program, told Infectious Disease News. “Others may come to a different conclusion for themselves. Both are perfectly right. Everyone has a different comfort level with these risks and should make the decision that seems appropriate for them.”
A group of more than 230 experts from 40 countries have signed a letter addressed to WHO and the International Olympic Committee calling for the Rio Games to be postponed or moved — but not canceled — “in the name of public health.”
Amid such pressure, WHO has declared there is “no public health justification” to postpone or move the Olympics out of Brazil, considering Zika’s already global spread, and Rio organizers have predicted that only one or two tourists would contract the virus during the games in August when the weather in Rio is cooler, drier and less favorable for mosquitoes. – by Gerard Gallagher
Reference:
RioOlympicsLater.org. Open letter to Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general, WHO. 2016. https://www.rioolympicslater.org/?_ga=1.242106626.1486921497.1466698558. Accessed June 23, 2016.
Disclosure: Morse reports no relevant financial disclosures.