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ONE of the country’s leading experts on ­infectious diseases will today arrive in Brazil to help tackle the virus threatening next month’s Olympics.

Dr Sam Allen will join a team of medics on a 1200-mile ­expedition across the region hit by more than 35,000 cases of Zika.

They’ll travel from Recife to the Paraiba state ­gathering data and carrying out assessments.

Dr Allen, 49, a consultant in ­infectious diseases at ­Kilmarnock’s Crosshouse Hospital, worked in South America before tackling other health issues, including Ebola.

He says knowledge gained over the past two years in tackling that disease may now help to develop a cure for the Zika virus.

He said: “I’m joining the group in a virus hot zone, catching mosquitoes and ­assessing mothers and children, in the run-up to the opening of the Games in Rio.

“A positive to come out of the Ebola situation is the medical and scientific ­community have been primed to fast-track a vaccine to the market sooner that would have occurred otherwise.”

Many homes across Brazil lack clean water supplies and are exposed to contamination – with mosquitoes able to breed on ­rubbish dumps and in old tyres.

Zika infection in pregnant women can lead to ­microcephaly, meaning babies are born with underdeveloped brains and abnormally small heads. There is no cure.

Brazilian authorities say 150 babies were born with such birth defects in 2014 but the total is in the thousands since October.

Some parts of north and south America have declared a state of emergency, calling it a “pandemic in progress”, and warn women not to become pregnant for at least the next two years.

Dr Allen added: “The Zika virus is primarily a problem for ­pregnant females during the first trimester. This is when the neural tube involving the brain and ­spinal cord of the foetus develop.

(Image: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

“For the rest of us it’s just a mild viral illness from which we will recover but, for pregnant women, it’s a major concern for which there is no treatment.

“If this spreads, it could trigger a debate about ‘therapeutic ­abortions’, already a heated ­subject across Latin America.”

Golfers Rory McIlroy and Jason Day are among those who’ve said they won’t be travelling to the Olympics, which begin in Rio on August 5.

The stars have cited fears over the virus – but Olympics and health chiefs have issued ­guidance for athletes and visitors and say the risk of catching Zika is low.