Francisco Rodriguez reveals he had Zika virus during offseason
Detroit Tigers closer Francisco Rodriguez has advice for athletes traveling to Rio de Janeiro for the upcoming Olympic Games: learn about the Zika virus before you go. And Rodriguez would know, because he has battled Zika himself.
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Rodriguez revealed to ESPN.com that he had contracted the Zika virus while he was spending the offseason at his home in Venezuela. It started out just like a normal cold, but he told ESPN that it quickly escalated to much more.
“It wasn’t a cold, trust me,” he said. “It wasn’t a cold. A cold, you have a sneeze, have a headache, take a couple Tylenol and you’re done. 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.”
Rodriguez, who was tested to make sure he had Zika, said that his recovery took months, overlapping with his pre-season preparations at the Tigers’ spring training.
Zika has become a major concern of the 2016 Olympic Games, and a number of well known athletes have commented publicly about their Zika worries. Rodriguez knows how serious Zika is — when it is contracted by pregnant women, their children can be born with devastating birth defects — and he understands where they’re coming from. From ESPN.com:
“I wouldn’t blame them,” Rodriguez told ESPN.com of any athletes having second thoughts about competing. “If they have plans to have kids in the future, you’ve got to think about it. You have to be aware of that as well. You have to do some homework, some research about it.”
Knowledge is power, so K-Rod’s recommendation to read up on Zika is excellent advice not just for athletes, but also for the many tourists who will be traveling Rio de Janeiro to see the Olympics in August.
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Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher
