Photo: Universal History Archive/UIG/Getty
Hoping to ease visitors’ concerns over theZika virus, Brazil’s health ministry will launch a smartphone app to help detect the disease during this summer’s Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro.
The app will provide information on preventing the mosquito-borne illness, help users determine if they are exhibiting symptoms and if necessary direct them to the nearest hospital or pharmacy, according toAFP.
The health ministry said the app that launches in May will be available in English, Portuguese Spanish, French, Arabic, Chinese and Russian.
The flu-like disease that can spread via mosquito bites and sexual contact has also been linked toGuillain Barré syndrome, a severe neurological disorder that causes temporary paralysis. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventionestimatethat 80 percent of people infected with the virus experience no symptoms.
U.S. health officials have also told pregnant women to avoid travel to places where the virus is being transmitted.
Brazil’s Health Minister Marcelo Castro said that “the risk of infection will be considerably reduced” during the Olympics, which will be held during the southern hemisphere’s winter season, when there are fewer mosquitoes, AFP reported. He conceded that the situation remains “very worrying.”
source: people.com
