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Special Zika-Proof Condoms Are Being Rolled Out For The Rio Olympics

The horizontal samba just got safer.

Condoms! Loads of lovely, latexy lubricated condoms for Australia's Olympians at the Rio Olympics!

This is the news from the Australian Olympic committee, which on Monday announced it will supply even more condoms than the 846 prophylactics we told you about last week.

The Olympic village will already be awash with latex, with 450,000 little rubbery pouches on offer for Olympians. That's roughly 45 per athlete. Yes, these are the Olympics.

But as we just said, Australia is sending yet more condoms, and these are no common condoms. These ones are Zika-proof!

Zika is a mosquito-borne virus which can cause severe birth defects in babies. It can also be sexually transmitted. Since most Olympians are of child-bearing age, authorities are taking every precaution. Their latest weapon is a thing called the the "antiviral Dual Protect VivaGel condom".

According to the blurb from pharmaceutical company Starpharma, it's the "world's only antiviral condom".

"While the physical barrier of the condom provides primary protection, the condom lubricant contains VivaGel, an antiviral agent that has been proven in laboratory studies to inactivate HIV, HSV (genital herpes) and HPV (human papillomavirus), which are viruses that cause sexually transmitted infections (STIs)," the blurb continued said rather breathlessly and excitedly.

"Starpharma has also recently announced that the antiviral active, VivaGel, showed near-complete antiviral protection against Zika virus in laboratory studies at levels significantly below the concentration in the Dual Protect condom."

The blurb then announced that this "world-first innovation", first developed in Australia, is currently in the process of being "rolled out" to other countries. We thought "rolled out" was an interesting choice of phrase in this context.

Kitty Chiller, Chef de Mission of the 2016 Australian Olympic Team, said "the health and wellbeing of the Team comes first and our association with Starpharma will provide extra protection for everyone on the Team, and is a common sense approach to a very serious problem we are facing in Rio".

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