World Health Organization Dir General Margaret Chan on Tuesday said that Brazil is "doing a good job tackling the Zika virus and ensuring that the Olympic Games it will host in August will be safe for athletes and visitors," according to Anthony Boadle of REUTERS. Chan said that Brazil's government is "doing all it can to mobilize Brazilian society in fighting the 'formidable' Aedes mosquito that transmits the virus that has spread rapidly through the Americas since last year." Chan: "I want to reassure you that the government is working very closely with the international Olympic movement, with the local organizing committee, supported by the WHO, to make sure we have a very good work plan to target the mosquito, and to make sure that people who will come here either as visitors or athletes will get the maximum protection they need. I am confident the government can do it." Brazilian authorities are "scrambling" to contain the outbreak. With no cure or vaccine for Zika, the only way to deal with the virus at present "is to reduce the population of the Aedes mosquito that also carries the dengue and chicungunya viruses" (REUTERS, 2/23).
