- Panic is spreading with six months to go until the Opening Ceremony
- Australian team tells female athletes to consider taking part 'very carefully'
- Airlines offering refunds to pregnant women travelling to infected countries
- Government says they are doing everything possible ahead of the Games
Rio's Olympics are on the verge of disaster as fear grows over the Zika virus, which has left more than 4,000 newborns with shrunken heads.
Female spectators and even athletes of childbearing age are being warned by countries and medical professionals around the world to reconsider their plans to travel to Brazil for fear of what could happen to their unborn children after the country was overrun by the mosquito-borne disease.
Russia and Australian officials have both raised fears for those women preparing to compete in August's Games, while numerous airlines around the world are offering pregnant women the chance to swap or refund their tickets to avoid travelling to affected areas - of which Brazil is the worst.
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The Brazilian government is trying to get the outbreak of the Zika virus under control ahead of the Games
Women of child bearing age are being warned to consider trips to Brazil 'carefully' ahead of the Olympic Games this August. Pictured: Geovane Silva holds his son Gustavo Henrique, who has microcephaly - one of more than 4,000 babies to be born with the condition in the last 12 months
Those organising Rio's Olympics are keen to play down the risks, and say they will have it under control
The condition, which cause babies to have unusually small heads, is being linked to the Zika virus
The Brazilian government has vowed to do everything in its power to stop the spread of the mosquito-borne disease, including sending out municipal workers with insecticide (pictured) to kill off the insects
The offers of refunds and dire warnings will put added pressure on a country which has already been struggling under the strain of preparing for the upcoming Games - especially considering the mosquito thrives in puddles, nooks and crannies common in host city Rio.
'It is the perfect set-up for proliferation,' said Isaac Bogoch, a tropical infectious disease specialist at Toronto General Hospital, who published a scientific paper predicting Zika's rapid spread. 'It can keep spreading until we find a way to contain the virus or keep the mosquitoes from transmitting it.'
In fact, medical professionals have warned that the virus has 'explosive pandemic potential', and could spread around the world infecting as many as four million people.
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