UNE scientist pens piece for Portland Press Herald about Zika and the Olympics
Meghan May, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical sciences in the University of New England’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, called for moving the summer Olympics due to the risks associated with the Zika virus in a piece for the Portland Press Herald.
May, an infectious disease expert, wrote that holding the Olympic games in an active epidemic zone for the virus could put people all over the world at risk. “I am not saying that those who travel to Rio de Janeiro are themselves at risk of severe illness or death. I am saying they are at risk of infection, and an infected person, whether or not they are overtly sick, becomes an excellent delivery vehicle for Zika.”
The Zika virus infection causes fever, joint pain, headache, fatigue and occasionally a rash in infected patients. It is rarely fatal but in pregnant women it has been found to lead to microcephaly, a neurological birth defect that produces unusually small heads and underdeveloped brains in newborns.