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Scientists disagree over Zika risk at Brazil's Olympics

Resident Luiz Silva takes part in the Olympic Flame torch relay at Sobradinho dam in Sobradinho, Bahia state, Brazil, May 26, 2016. Marcos de Paula/Courtesy of Rio2016/Handout via Reuters (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) - One day after a top U.S. health official declared there was no public health reason to cancel or delay this summer's Olympics in Brazil, more than 150 scientists on Friday called for just that, saying the risk of infection from the Zika virus is too high. The scientists, many of them bioethicists, who signed an open letter published online to Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization. The letter urged that the Games, due to be held in Rio de Janeiro in August, be moved to another location or delayed. "An unnecessary risk is posed when 500,000 foreign tourists from all countries attend the Games, potentially acquire that strain, and return home to places where it can become endemic," the letter said. It can be found at http://rioolympicslater.org/ Bioethicists study ethical problems arising from biological or medical research. Professor Arthur Caplan, director of the division of medical ethics at New York University School of Medicine and one of four who authored the letter, said he is sceptical Brazil has the resources to protect the public and is equally sceptical of "general assurances" from public health officials. The letter called on the WHO to convene an independent group to advise it and the International Olympic Committee. "I believe in informed consent," Caplan said in an interview. "Let's have an independent set of scientists look at this and let everyone hear the arguments." Speaking at a lunch at the National Press Club in Washington on Thursday, Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said there was no reason to delay the Olympics. He was responding to a paper by a Canadian professor published earlier this month in the Harvard Public Health Review which called for the Games to be cancelled or moved because it could speed the spread of Zika. "The risk is not particularly high other than for pregnant women," Frieden said. Zika infection in pregnant women has been shown to be a cause of the birth defect microcephaly and other serious brain abnormalities in babies. The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light last fall in Brazil, which has confirmed more than 1,400 cases of microcephaly. Frieden's view is shared by many infectious disease experts. A recent editorial in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal noted that the Zika outbreak has been concentrated in northeastern Brazil, away from Rio. Moreover, it added, the infection-carrying mosquito is not particularly active in August and athletes and spectators are likely to spend their time in places purged of mosquito breeding sites. "Available evidence indicates that for games participants, risk of exposure to Zika virus and subsequent adverse health outcomes will be low," it said. (Reporting by Toni Clarke in Washington and William Schomberg in London,; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Bernard Orr)