Avid soccer fans who are planning to travel to Brazil for the FIFA World Cup, or the 2016 Summer Olympic Games or the Paralympic Games in Brazil should see their doctors at least four weeks before travelling, according to new advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC warns that "travelers who are attending special events like these may be at an increased risk."
The agency recommends several steps for travelers to take to reduce the risk of infections like dengue fever.
"We're expecting that a lot of Americans will attend and we want to give them a chance to review some of the health and safety issues that come with attending World Cup-like events in a country like Brazil," said Joanna Gaines, a senior epidemiologist at the CDC and lead author of the statement.
The CDC also gave tips to travelers for getting around the country: "Most of the roads in Brazil are actually not paved, and we do recommend that travelers be particularly vigilant, so really being careful when they are driving. Making sure that you're trying to find a vehicle that does have the safety features that you want - I mean, at a minimum seat belts for sure."
"The CDC recommends the hepatitis A vaccine because you can get hepatitis A through contaminated food or water in Brazil, regardless of where you are eating or staying," the CDC says in a statement.
The 2016 Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro from August 5 through August 21 of that year.
The report notes that mass gatherings such as the World Cup and Olympics have been associated with illness outbreaks before.
For example, six different flu strains were behind an outbreak at the 2008 World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia. Also, there were meningococcal outbreaks following a 1997 soccer tournament in Belgium and the 2000 Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
