In a phone interview with The Associated Press, Spanish RS:X Olympic Champion Marina Alabau described symptoms that her doctor said were in line with Zika, a mosquito-borne virus that is threatening to stop some athletes and spectators from attending the 2016 Rio Olympics.
According to the report, the 30-year-old Alabau has urged her fellow athletes not to worry about the virus which caused her to come down with a fever one day in December. .
“There is too much alarm surrounding this. I had the virus and it wasn’t that bad. I didn’t even go to the hospital,” she told AP. “Then my whole body turned red and everything itched. Two days later, my joints started aching. First it was in the fingers, then my wrists and finally my ankles. It was then that I decided to return to Spain because I was a little worried.”
However, Aalabau's doctor has emphasised that the Zika symptoms are based on the athlete's reports, not on bloody work, and other mosquito-borne viruses can't be ruled out.
Read the full report at the Washington Post here.
