The Northern Ireland sportsman was due to compete in the sporting event in August. But he said today that it was a risk he was 'unwilling to take'.

In many of these countries abortion is either illegal or highly restricted, leaving pregnant women with few options and potentially driving them to use unsafe methods, warn experts at the University of Cambridge.

While organizers didn't name her, Rihanna, 28, has been identified as the performer who dropped out of the festival by Colombian news outlets.

Hideki Matsuyama has become the latest golfer to withdraw from the Olympics because of concerns over the Zika virus. He joins the likes of Rory McIlroy and Jason Day in deciding not to compete.

The flying animals, natural mosquito predators, can eat up to 1,000 of the disease-spreading insects in an hour. And officials in New Hempstead, New York, are installing 'bat boxes' to attract them.

Carly Patterson, one of the most decorated gymnasts in United States Olympic history has revealed she will be skipping the upcoming Rio de Janeiro Games due to the threat of the Zika virus.

Gold-winning Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn has admitted that she won't be going to the Summer games in Rio, Brazil this year because she's scared of contracting the Zika virus.

Imperial College London experts predict that the virus, which is rife in Brazil and other parts of South and Central America, will burn itself out in two to three years. However, it will strike again.

A dozen staff are threatening to follow sports journalist Richard Conway (pictured) who is said to have told bosses he is bowing out of the event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

These interactive maps show where people are being treated for the disease, how many patients are infected and which cities are most at risk.

Two studies released today have identified antibodies to fight Zika. They have been hailed as some of the most precise investigations into Zika to date as the virus sweeps the world.

This freeze should remain in place until each individual unit of blood collected in the two counties can be tested, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.

Pregnant Deiseane Santiago, 22, originally from Sao Paulo in Brazil, came to Britain last November on a five-month visitor visa to spend time with 26-year-old fiance Simon Ellis (pictured).

Fifty-three cases of the Zika virus have now been reported in Britain, health officials have revealed. It is thought that all of those affected by the virus had recently travelled back from abroad.

Public Health England has advised pregnant women to scrap non-essential trips to Florida, United States, after the country's first cases of the Zika virus not linked to travel have been discovered.

The Zika virus could soon be spreading to  Louisiana and Texas, warned a tropical medical expert, after four patients in Florida have tested positive for the virus.

From furious protests over government corruption to the Zika epidemic, the road to Rio has been beset with problems, but locals have said visitors can expect a warm welcome.

Public Health England advised pregnant tourists to cancel non-essential travel to Florida and said men and women should abstain from sex without a condom while they are on holiday.

While Zika is in the spotlight, there are other bugs and health problems that Olympic athletes and spectators should keep in mind. Here's look at what athletes and travelers can do about them.

Ryan Seacrest arrived in Rio de Janeiro just days ago as he is set to host Friday's Olympic opening ceremony.

More than 90 people have contracted the infection in just one month - a staggering figure for the 1.4 million-strong state in such a short amount of time. Hawaii is also battling Zika.

It is not yet clear whether they Palm Beach County resident contracted the infection from Palm Beach mosquitoes or from insects during a recent trip to Miami, Florida, where there is a Zika outbreak.

As insecticide rained down on a popular district in Miami, state health officials began to investigate Palm Beach County's first case of non-travel related Zika, Gov Rick Scott's office announced Monday.

It is the biggest one-day spike in diagnoses to date as the city struggles to control the virus. The development means there are now 21 people being treated for local transmission of the virus.

Fearing the worst during an outbreak of Zika virus, pregnant Emily was banned from travelling to the US with the rest of the family as Peter went abroad with Princess and Junior.

An Australian photographer in Rio covering the 2016 Olympic Games has become the latest robbery victim with $40,000 of camera gear stolen in a sting led by a woman.

The condition known as arthrogryposis freezes up joints, often leaving their hands, arms, legs, feet, or fingers frozen in a contorted position. In most cases, it also impairs function of the heart.

Taekwondo star Jade, 23, today launches her bid to defend the Gold medal she won at London 2012, supported by her family including grandfather Martin Foulkes.

The mosquito-borne infection arrived in the US last month, but has so far been restricted to a few blocks in Wynwood, a neighborhood of Miami-Dade County.

A patient has been diagnosed with Zika in Pinellas County. The area just outside Tampa is 265 miles away from Miami on the other side of the peninsula from the original outbreak zone.

Alice Rowland, 28, from Northampton, attempted to cancel her and 26-year-old partner Jefferson George’s flights to Dominica after her doctor advised her against travelling.

So far 483 people in New York City have been diagnosed with Zika, and 49 of those were pregnant at the time of their diagnosis.

Hermine made landfall in Florida early Friday as a Category 1 hurricane with forecasters warning as much as 20 inches of rain on Thursday.

Even with pre-clinical and early stage clinical trials underway, we still may not see a Zika vaccine licensed and approved for use in humans for years.

Researchers studied 11 babies diagnosed with Zika and found they had a range of neurological impairments aside from microcephaly that cause life-long neurological damage.

Researchers at Glasgow University have been able to shed more light on how the Zika virus works by sequencing the full-length genome of the virus from a patient in Brazil.

It comes after the intense storms last week, leaving swathes of standing water, which is ideal breeding ground for Zika-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

There are now 160 local infections in Florida as the spread shows no sign of slowing down despite its disappearance from headlines.

The Dept of Commerce says 74m US residents travelled internationally in 2015 - a 9% rise on the previous year. Of those, 33m travelled overseas, with the UK the most popular destination.

Two weeks ago, two British tourists in Florida were reported to have contracted Zika. The news came as the richest man in the world announced the details of a major project to tackle the problem.

Monroe County residents have backed a proposal to release a lab-developed group of mosquitoes designed to infect the Zika-carrying mosquito population with a fatal disease.

None of the rats tested at Philadelphia's Wistar Institute contracted Zika after getting the vaccine. It is the best result of a Zika vaccine to date, and it is the same being tested in the first human trials.

The mosquito-borne virus sparked global panic this year after millions were infected, causing scores of babies to be born with birth defects such as microcephaly.

Officials lifted the warning on Tuesday, saying more than 45 days had passed since they have found a new last local case of the mosquito-borne infection.

Tony Gardner said he was bitten by an infected mosquito while shooting scenes for the crime comedy in the islands of Guadeloupe this summer.

Australian swimmer-turned-commentator, Giaan Rooney, has announced she's pregnant with her second child, just months after travelling to Brazil amid the Zika virus concerns

In a new map from St Louis University in Missouri, countries along the Mississippi Delta were found to pose the highest risk for Zika transmission as well as some on the Atlantic coast.

Official data says just 16 Zika-infected babies have been born since the mosquito-born illness swept the Americas last year. However, more than 3,300 pregnant women got the virus in 2016.

The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District released 20,000 male mosquitoes infected by the Kentucky-based company MosquitoMate with naturally occurring Wolbachia bacteria.

Researchers from the Queensland University of Technology have found a way to kill the Zika virus using compounds found in an Australian native plant.