http://dollars-vedioonline.blogspot.com/2016/02/fifa-world-beach-soccer-championship-in.html
Zika declared 'global health emergency', linked to birth defects in babies
Thousands of babies born with microcephaly or 'small head' syndrome
Epicentre of outbreak is Brazil, where 4,000 newborns have microcephaly
But scientists believe virus exploded on tropical paradise island of Tahiti
They accused Tahiti canoe team of bringing disease into South America
Canoe girls competed in Rio de Janeiro in 2014, 'triggering outbreak'
But MailOnline investigation suggests Fifa Beach Soccer Cup is to blame
16 countries competed in 2013 championships then islanders fell ill
In total, 60 per cent of islanders went sick and 12 babies born with defects
Then the virus made its way to Brazil where millions have fallen ill
The global Zika outbreak that has seen millions fall ill and damaged thousands of newborn babies is being blamed on Fifa's Beach Soccer World Cup, a MailOnline investigation has revealed.
The Pacific paradise island of Tahiti, seen as a key 'staging post' in the worldwide spread of the disease, hosted hundreds of football players from 16 different countries in September 2013.
Just weeks later thousands of islanders fell ill with a rash on their bodies, debilitating fever and general aches and pains.
Now Zika has spread to more than 20 countries worldwide and caused panic in Brazil where 4,000 babies have been born with under-developed brains. There is currently no vaccine or cure.
Initially researchers suggested the deadly virus - a global health emergency - spread to Brazil from Tahiti during a canoe competition in Rio de Janeiro in August 2014.
But an investigation by MailOnline on the French Polynesian paradise found that 60 per cent of the islanders developed Zika after teams from as far afield as Argentina, Paraguay, Senegal, Japan and Brazil flew into the capital for Fifa's beach soccer tournament.
TAHITIANS DRANK SEA WATER AND FANTA TO 'CURE' ZIKA
So many Tahitians fell ill during the first Zika outbreak that followed the Fifa beach soccer world cup that they resorted to old wives' tales to 'cure' their ailments or stave away mosquito-borne illnesses.
Papeete taxi driver Taata Tchoung Yao fell ill with the virus and resorted to a friend's advice to drink sea water.
'I had a rash and I was tired. I was sick for three days,' he said.
'I kept drinking a little sea water throughout the day that I collected in a bottle myself from the sea. And on the second day and third day I felt better.
'A friend of mind told me to do it, but I told him "Are you crazy?" But I didn't want to take medicine.'
Another driver who sat underneath the corrugated iron shelter of the taxi rank facing the bay told how he even resorted to drinking cans of Fanta to ward off the effects of the illness.
But unfortunately for him this did not pan out as well as he hoped - he contracted the virus twice.
Within weeks of the championship the first case had been reported in Japan – eight months before the canoe competition in Rio. At least 12 newborn babies were later discovered with defects on Tahiti.
Slowly, the disease began to be discovered in South America.
So far, at least 4,000 newborns in Brazil have been identified with microcephaly, a condition in which the brain does not develop, and millions have fallen ill across the continent.
The infection is now widespread across the Americas, the Pacific Islands and Africa - including El Salvador and Paraguay and cases have been discovered in Ireland and Britain.
Frighteningly, some people carrying the infection show no symptoms at all. Others develop flu-like aches, inflammation of the eyes, joint pain and rashes. There is currently no vaccine or cure.
Researchers are desperately tracking the emergence of the deadly bug to try to find a way of tackling it.
The massive outbreak in the French Polynesian paradise in 2013 is believed to have allowed the disease to make its way to South America - and then to the rest of the world.
Locals on the tiny island of Tahiti are convinced that the international soccer tournament was to blame for the epidemic that brought the island to its knees.
Tahiti's city health boss, seventh vice-mayor Sylvana Puhetini, said that ‘the virus spread to Brazil after the beach soccer - that’s the general feeling of the population.
'It was right after the beach soccer world cup that the Zika started.
'I had Zika. I work at the local parliament building and I got Zika in early October - one of the first ones with a fever, pains and trouble walking.
'I don't trust the scientists. They're making all this stuff up to solve the spread of Zika. We never had the virus.
Boss of canoe squad accused of spreading Zika
'I had to stay in bed for three days, I couldn't move.
'A lot of my colleagues were contaminated. I called my doctor and I told him about my symptoms. He thought I had Dengue fever but two days later I had a rash.
'On the television, I saw that there was an epidemic of Zika and that's when I thought I had it.
'I went back to the doctor and he thought I had Zika, so I had a blood test and confirmed it.’
Dr Stephen Donohue, director of the Tropical Public Health Unit at Townsville Hospital, Queensland, agreed that sporting events, such as the beach soccer championships in Tahiti, could be a source for the transmission of Zika.
'If you are in one place, such as attending a sporting event where there are a lot of people and you get bitten by a mosquito and then you travel to somewhere else, within two weeks you will show the symptoms of whatever disease that mosquito is carrying,' he said.
Shopkeepers, taxi drivers, hotel workers across Tahiti all repeated the same story about the the source: It was the beach soccer championships.
Tour guide Teiva Tiaipoi has no doubts that Zika was brought to Tahiti by players taking part in the tournament in 2013.
'It was the world cup, there is no doubt about that,' he said as he broke away from his group of tourists near the beach at Venus Point, north of Papeete. 'And I would say it was the Africans because that's where Zika started, wasn't it?'
We said: 'Look what happened with Zika at the world cup. Do you want Ebola to come here next?'
While medical experts insist that the virus that hit Tahiti carried the Asian strain, not the African, Mr Tiaipoi said common sense told him and 'everyone' in Papeete that the world cup was the cause of all the troubles in former French Polynesia.
'I'm not an expert, but I'm telling you the hard facts. Just a short time after the players arrived from around the world and registered at their hotels, guests there and fans who attended the world cup matches had the fever and the rash.
'It's too much of a coincidence to say the world cup had nothing to do with it. How else did the virus arrive here?'
Mr Tiaipoi said his work took him all around the island and he heard the same story - 'blame the virus on the world cup.'
Scientists have previously suggested that canoeists from Tahiti were to blame for carrying the virus to South America - where at least 4,000 newborns have been identified suffering from microcephaly.
HOW DEADLY DISEASE SPREAD ACROSS THE GLOBE
April 1947 - Zika virus is first discovered in a monkey in Uganda
1954 - First case of the illness was recorded in humans in Nigeria
1966 - Zika comes to south-east Asia
1970s - Pakistan, India, Malaysia and Indonesia report cases of the disease
2007 - No more records exist until a major outbreak happens in the Micronesian island of Yap
2008 - Two scientists return from Senegal, Africa. One of them is believed to have sexually transmitted the disease to his wife
September 2013 - Beach Soccer World Cup is held in Papeete, Tahiti
October 2013 - First cases of Zika are reported on the island of Tahiti
December 2013 - Japanese man in his 20s presents himself at Tokyo hospital with symptoms of Zika after travelling to Bora Bora
January 2014 - Woman in her 30s arrives at Japanese hospital with similar ailments after she returned from Bora Bora
March 2014 - First case of Zika on the Solomon Islands is recorded
June/July 2014 - FIFA Soccer World Cup happens in Brazil
August 2014 - French Polynesia canoeists travel to Rio, Brazil to compete in world championships
May 2015 - Zika outbreak is confirmed in Brazil by the Pan American Health Organisation
Current - Widespread infection across the Americas, the Pacific Islands and Africa - including El Salvador and Paraguay
A research paper accused the teams who took part in an outrigger championship in Rio in 2014 of picking up the virus on their home island and unwittingly causing the global outbreak that is now being classed as a global health emergency - just as Ebola was last year.
But when MailOnline tracked down the canoeists they insisted they were not to blame.
None of the canoe team were ill before they left or showed any symptoms of being infected by the virus when they returned with their medals.
Charles Villierme, former president of Tahiti's Federation of Canoe-Kayak who went on the trip to Rio in 2014, was astonished at the suggestion his athletes had something to do with the outbreak.
He told MailOnline: 'Zika was a big problem here. All the delegates had check ups before they left for Rio.
'I don't trust the scientists. They're making all this stuff up to solve the spread of Zika.
'We never had the virus. Only the researchers are saying that.
'All our athletes wherever they go, before they go we check for any doping products or any diseases as well.'
Sisters Tehani and Vahinerii Liu, also said the canoeists could not have caused the outbreak - in Tahiti or in South America. 'A lot of my friends got Zika. They were very sick with headaches, weakness and itchy rashes,' Vahinerii added.
'There's not a big chance it happened because of the canoeists - French Polynesia was not the first country to get Zika.
'Like Chikungunya - another debilitating disease that gripped the region in 2014 - it started in another country.'
Concern about the influx of people carrying Zika was so high locally that an international boule championship was even cancelled.
Mr Tiapoi said: 'We'd seen how easy it was for Zika to come in and infect a large number of people.
'Somebody started a protest movement and begged the authorities here to stop planning for the petanque championships.
'We said: "Look what happened with Zika at the world cup. Do you want ebola to come here next?"
At risk: A mother, who didn't want to be named, in Orofara village on Tahiti said she was bitten by mosquitoes before having her baby (pictured), but she was lucky to not develop the Zika virus
Whatever its origins, it appears clear from detailed inquiries that the outbreak that hit 60 per cent of the 280,000 population in the French Polynesian region erupted within a week or more of the international teams arriving for the soccer finals.
The Tahu To’ata stadium was packed with sporting enthusiasts HOW MANY, many of whom were there to support the home team, leading locals to say there could be no other cause for the outbreak that struck the nation a short time afterwards.
Andre Rereao, 29, was one of the fans who sat in the tiered stands looking down on the sandy ground.
Relaxing on the beach at Point Venus, just outside of Papeete, the father-of-one told MailOnline it was only weeks after the last players had left the town that Zika started to emerged.
'There were a lot of strangers who came here from Brazil and all around the world. Some weeks after that the first case of Zika happened. I think the virus came from Rio to here,' he said.
Support: Tahiti resident Andrew Rereao also supports the theory that the Fifa tournament is to blame, rather than the canoe team
Mr Rereao said he caught the bug, and had the typical symptoms - a rash, fever, sore limbs and fatigue. His friends caught it as well, but luckily his wife and son escaped unharmed.
Tahitian team captain Naea Bennett, however, was upset at the suggestion that soccer was to blame. 'I have no idea if Zika really happened because of the African team [or the tournament].
'I'm a player, my concentration was on the team and playing.
'People were saying that the World Cup brought Zika but I don't know. [When Zika started] people said it was the World Cup because it's an easy answer, it's easy to assume.
'Do they have proof or research?
'Someone on the team who was sick or the team brought it to Tahiti - I don't know.
'No one here was sick at the hotel. It was a month later we heard [about the illness] but it was not during the competition.'
Disbelief: Tahiti resident Arnelle Peoch says it's hard to believe canoeists from the island carried Zika to Rio
According to leading scientist Dr Van-Mai Cao-Lormeau, who has written several medical papers about the virus, it carried a strain originating in Asia - not Africa as many feared. She said the soccer championship could have been to blame.
‘It’s basically anybody’s guess,’ she said. ‘There are many explanations for how the virus came to stay.’
'When we first detected it here, we looked at it and found that it was from the Asian genome. And yes, some people are saying it came from the world cup (beach) soccer and that it came from teams from Africa, but the strain was from Asia, not the African virus.'
Asked whether it was possible that players from Brazil had contracted the virus in Tahiti and then taken it back to their country, Dr Cao-Lormeau said there was no evidence to support that, although it was a possibility.
Competition: Tahiti perform the Haka before the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2013 semi final match between Russia and Tahiti at the Tahua To'ata stadium on September 27, 2013 in Papeete
So how did the virus arrive in French Polynesia - and how did it travel from there to Rio, given that the French Polynesian strain has been detected in South America?
Dr Cao-Lameau, the top scientist who is based at the Institute Louis Mallard in Papeete, told MailOnLine in her laboratory that the exact ‘movements’ of the virus was still under investigation, but pointed out that it ‘travelled when people travel’.
Intriguingly, the Fifa World Cup that took place in Brazil in June/July 2014, with 32 qualifying teams and up to 3.3million supporters flooding into the country, may also have contributed to the spread.
Teams: To the residents' knowledge, the island was Zika-free before the arrival of beach soccer teams from Brazil, Paraguay, Salvador, Argentina, Senegal, Solomon Islands, Japan, Russia, Spain, Iran, the United States, Ukraine, the Netherlands, United Arab Emirates and the Ivory Coast
What has added to the mystery of how the disease has travelled - springing up, for example in the remote north Pacific island of Yap in 2007 - are the views of Dr Henri-Pierre Mallet, health watch manager for Papeete’s Department of Health.
‘Of course, you can carry the virus without being aware of it - you are asymptomatic,’ he told MailOnline.
The unwitting carriers, scientists agree, are those who have been bitten by the breed of virus-carrying mosquitoes which then bite other people and spread the disease. Those most susceptible are pregnant women in the first month of their trimester, resulting in birth deformities, including child with small heads.
It is understood that about 12 babies have been born with the small head abnormality - microcephaly - in French Polynesia, but there are others with other kinds of defects. MailOnline has learned of one mother in Papeete giving birth to a baby with a badly twisted ear, a result, her doctor told her, of being bitten by a mosquito while in the early stages of her pregnancy.
Open: The country is now believed to be Zika-free, but it hasn’t stopped the locals talking about the outbreak
As scientists in Papeete work on preparing a final report into the spread of the virus - MailOnline found bizarre anomalies in the spread. In Brazil it is poor neighbourhoods that are badly hit. In Tahiti it was focussed on Papeete - supporting the theory that the soccer was the trigger.
While many people in Papeete described the virus as 'being everywhere, we were all bitten' - in small villages on the other side of the island, on the east coast, residents in areas that were rife with mosquitoes said they had not contracted Zika.
Stepping out from his modest home, which is surrounded by banana leaves, a shirtless Leon Luraeva, proudly said: 'No Zika. Not me.'
And further along a dirt track in the village of Mahaena, new mother Raurii Uraeva proudly gazed down upon her one-month-old baby boy, Tiainui Teraiharoa. 'Many mosquitoes, no Zika,' she said.
As you travel along the coastal roads back towards Papeete - the island's capital - more patients of Zika start to present themselves, like Christine Deweerdt.
She contracted Zika while she was pregnant with her two-year-old son, but luckily it was towards the end of her last trimester. It is thought the first trimester is when Zika is most dangerous to women and their babies.
'I wasn't worried [about my pregnancy] because I was at eight months and out of the danger zone,' Ms Deweerdt told MailOnline.
'I got Zika after my older eight-year-old son had Zika.'
Peace: A lone paddle boarder heads home of Papeete, which was struck by the Zika virus just weeks after the September 2013 Fifa beach football tournament
The country is now believed to be Zika-free. But it hasn’t stopped the locals talking about it.
Armelle Peoch, originally from France but who has lived in Papeete for a number of years, reflected on the virus in a Papeete waterfront cafe.
'I think that it is a virus like a lot of others before it. It's another part of human history. It's not a special experience.
'A virus is new but the basics are still the same. This one is a mosquito-borne virus but before that it was another thing. Humans can expel it out of the body.
'A lot of people had been bitten but no one had symptoms. If you're tired, sore and if your morale is good then it will go away,’ she said.
In a statement, Fifa said: 'Fifa is not aware of any scientific evidence that would substantiate the claim you mention.'
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