Olympians are getting so freaked out over Zika, they're freezing their sperm

When in doubt, freeze your sperm. Naturally.

The mosquito-borne Zika virus has been making headlines for months now, especially given its link to birth defects. But with the Rio Olympic Games getting even closer, some competing athletes are going to extremes to protect both themselves and their progeny.

To be specific Greg Rutherford, Britain’s long jump champion, will be freezing his sperm before travelling to Brazil in August. Rutherford and his long time partner, Susan Verrill, made the decision in light of Zika’s prominence in South America and its link to microcephaly: a defect causing babies to be born with abnormally small heads and brain development issues. The couple already have one child together.

“We’ve… made the decision to have Greg’s sperm frozen. We’d love to have more children and with research in its infancy, I wouldn’t want to put myself in a situation which could have been prevented. Specialists still also don’t know the ins and outs of Zika,” Verril wrote in The Standard Issue.

(CBS Films) Source: CBS Films

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) as well as several other government health agencies across the world, if a pregnant woman contracts Zika her child has a risk of being born with microcephaly.  Little has been reported on the connection between the birth defect and men or non-pregnant women who have the disease.

But Dr Cameron Webb, a mosquito researcher from the University of Sydney, says the transmission and effects of the disease on unborn children are more nuanced than people consider. 

“We’ve known about microcephaly for a long time and there are several factors that link to it, like if the mother is malnourished. So it’s not always Zika. And just because the mother has Zika doesn’t mean her child will be born with microcephaly. It’s all still up in the air,” he told SBS.

“Up until 18 months ago there weren’t a lot of people looking into this disease. It’s relatively mild. You get a fever, a rash, you feel lousy. It just feels like you have a really bad flu. So it was dramatically overshadowed by mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and malaria. But it’s the link between Zika and birth defects that warrants concern.”

WHO says nothing of men who have the disease, and whether their health might contribute to birth defects in future children. But Dr Cameron suggests it may be worth considering given the disease can be transmitted through sexual intercourse, particularly between men and their already pregnant female partners.

“There’s the case of sexual transmission. We know that can be a route of transmission which could have implications for people who want to start a family. And men who contract Zika can pass the disease on to their female partners,” said Dr Webb.

However, the effect the virus may have on an yet-to-be conceived child hasn’t been conclusively determined. But Dr Webb suggests following the guide outlined by the US Centre for Disease Control.

“The Centre for Disease Control says if you’re a woman that has had Zika, you should wait eight weeks before trying for a baby. But for men it’s best to wait six months, since Zika can still be found in seminal fluid many months after the virus has passed,” he said.

So it follows, if long jumper Rutherford and his partner Verrill want to pop a bub out the moment the games are over, maybe freezing his sperm isn’t such a bad idea.