All-Star MLB Pitcher Had Zika, Wouldn't Fault Rio Exodus

DETROIT, MI – Detroit Tigers pitcher Francisco Rodriguez, who contracted the Zika virus in his native Venezuela during the ball club’s offseason, says he “wouldn’t blame” athletes who someday want to have children if they skipped the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

The mosquito-borne virus, which has been linked to severe birth defects in children and neurological problems in adults, is nothing to fool around with, Rodriguez told ESPN.

“You've got to think about it” if you’re planning on having kids, the Detroit Tigers closer said. “You have to do some homework, some research about it.”

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Rodriguez said he was sick with head and body aches, sore joints and other cold-like symptoms for about two weeks. When he didn’t start feeling better, his doctor ordered a blood test that confirmed he had contracted the Zika virus.

“You don't have a cold for two weeks, you don't have a bodyache for two weeks, you don't have headaches, throwing up, weaknesses for two weeks,” he told ESPN, adding that it was two weeks before he felt well again.

“An unnecessary risk is posed when 500,000 foreign tourists from all countries attend the Games, potentially acquire the strain, and return home to places where it can become endemic,” they wrote in the letter. “Should that happen to poor, as-yet unaffected places (e.g., most of South Asia and Africa) the suffering can be great. It is unethical to run the risk, just for Games that could proceed anyway, if postponed and/or moved.”

In its statement, the WHO said that based on current assessments, postponing or moving the Olympics wouldn’t “significantly alter the international spread of Zika virus.”