Security & Strategic Review - January 2016 (ISSN 1741-4202)

Until recently, security concerns in the run-up to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro were dominated by fears that the historically high levels of violence in the city would impact upon the 2016 Games. Added to this were the usual fears that the event might make an inviting target for terrorist organisations, despite Brazil’s lack of obvious enemies. But these major concerns have been swept aside in recent weeks following the panic over the spread of the Zika virus, linked to a surge in cases of microcephaly, a kind of infant brain damage, in Brazil.