Use condoms in Rio ...doctor warns athletes at the Olympics

... doctor warns athletes at the Olympics

Renowned physician Dr Paul Wright is urging Jamaican athletes competing at the Olympic Games in Rio to use condoms if they engage in sexual intercourse, as this is one way to protect themselves from contracting the Zika virus.

Zika is the first known mosquito-borne virus that can also be transmitted via unprotected sex with an infected partner.

The virus has caused concern because women who are infected during pregnancy can give birth to children with microcephaly, which is an abnormal smallness of the head that is associated with an underdeveloped brain.

should refrain

Therefore, Wright said athletes must ensure that they use a condom whenever they are indulging in sexual activities in Rio.

"They should refrain from sexual activities in Rio, and if they choose to engage in sexual activities in Rio, I am imploring them that they use a condom at all times," said Wright.

"The most important thing is that athletes who are performing, when their event is over, don't stay in the village for another five or six days because that is when they are going to meet in problems and may get ill," he added.

Jamaica has assembled a 63-member contingent for the Games in Rio - the largest ever delegation the country has sent to an Olympics.

This eclipses the 50 athletes who represented the island at both the 2008 and 2012 installments.

Track and field will, as usual, account for the largest number of athletes on the squad with 59 entries.

Jamaica will also be represented in gymnastics following the historic qualification of Toni-Ann Williams, who will become the country's first Olympic gymnast.

Yona Knight-Wisdom is set to compete in the 3m springboard diving event.

The experienced Alia Atkinson, who is at her fourth Olympic Games, and Timothy Wynter will take part in swimming.