Australia will distribute anti-Zika condoms to its athletes during the Rio Olympics. They are coated with a gel that is supposed to be antiviral to reduce the risk of contamination, she explains.
Faced with the Zika threat, Australia has chosen the option: “zero risk taking”. From August 5 to 21, 2016, the Australian Olympic Committee will distribute to its athletes participating in the Rio Olympic Games condoms coated with a gel supposed to be antiviral, in order to reduce the risk of contamination with the Zika virus. Indeed, while condom dispensers will be installed during the Games in the Olympic Village, the Australian Olympic Committee has decided to provide its athletes with its own condoms, of the Dual Protect brand. With what benefit for health given that the condom is supposed to protect against all STIs (1)? Dn a press release on its website, the Australian Olympic Committee explains the reasons for this choice.
Developed by the Australian companies Starpharma and Ansell, this condom is coated with a lubricant containing a gel, VivaGel, which according to its manufacturers is “an antiviral agent whose laboratory studies have shown that it inactivates” several sexually transmitted viruses such as HIV, genital herpes, or human papillomavirus (HPV). The manufacturers claim, moreover, that laboratory work has shown that this gel also provides “almost complete antiviral protection. Against the Zika virus. “The health and well-being of the delegation comes first”, concludes the australian olympic committee. The condom has just been marketed in Australia and is presented as a world first by its manufacturers.
Anti-sheep outfits for South Koreans
With this decision which will undoubtedly leave doctors perplexed, Australian athletes are not the only ones to show originality. South Koreans will wear long-sleeved clothing impregnated with mosquito repellent to training. This “in order to avoid being affected by the virus”, announced at the end of April a spokesperson for the National Olympic Committee (NOC). But for Olympic purists, no worries, because during official competitions, the South Koreans will wear the same outfits as usual “due to very strict regulations”. “We will distribute spray repellent to our athletes and will vaccinate them against other diseases that can be transmitted by mosquitoes,” the authorities added.
1.5 million people affected in Brazil
To understand psychosis, we must remember that with about a million and a half people infected since 2015, Brazil is the country most affected by this virus which is transmitted by a mosquito or during sexual relations and which can cause microcephaly. on the fetus, a serious and irreversible malformation characterized by an abnormally small size of the skull. Some 91,387 probable cases of Zika virus contamination were officially counted for the first time in all regional states of Brazil (from January 3 to April 2), according to a statement from the Brazilian Ministry of Health. The incidence rate is thus 44.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
Regarding microcephaly in newborns, 1,198 cases linked to Zika have been confirmed by the ministry since the start of its surveys in October 2015, and 3,710 suspected cases are still being examined. Finally, apart from the case of stillborn babies due to microcephaly, three people perished, with an average age of 20 years. The virus, which has spread to Brazil, Colombia and the Caribbean since late 2014, mainly via mosquitoes Aedes aegypti, causes a mild infection in the majority of cases.
(1) Sexually Transmitted Infections
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