IOC To Issue Zika Guidelines As 2016 Rio Olympic Games Loom

The IOC "will issue an advisory note this week following the outbreak of the Zika virus which is spreading rapidly across South America months before the Rio de Janeiro Games in August," according to Grohmann & Eisenhammer of REUTERS. IOC President Thomas Bach said that on Thursday that guidelines would be sent to National Olympic Committees "today or tomorrow at the latest" as Rio prepares to host the world's biggest sporting event and the first Olympics on South American soil. Bach said, "We will do everything to ensure the health of the athletes and all the visitors. We are in close contact with the World Health Organization as well as with the organizing committee and the Brazilian authorities" (REUTERS, 1/28).