What a bunch of nutjobs.  No wonder....

At least someone got the memo! Thousands of samba dancers in tiny costumes ignore Zika threat to celebrate carnival in Brazil (but one reveller did cover up in a head-to-toe mosquito net)

• Nationwide carnival celebrations famed for lavish and skimpily dressed samba parades started this weekend
• The streetfestival is expected to attract some five million people both from Brazil and around the globe
• This year's carnival across Brazil starts under the cloud of Zika virus which can cause serious birth defects
• Revellers had been warned to cover up to minimise spread of the virus, which is carried by mosquitos  

Despite warnings that the traditional Carnival clothes - or lack thereof - would accelerate the spread of the Zika virus, performers and revelers taking part in Brazil's nationwide street fest have been going down the classic route. 

In Sao Paulo, Brazil's most populous city and its economic capital, the second day of carnival celebrations saw a number of samba schools parade through the streets in jaw-dropping costumes covered in diamantes, feathers... and not much more.  

Medical experts have warned that the celebrations held all over Brazil in the coming days could become an 'explosive cocktail' that will see the mosquito-transmitted Zika spread at globally.

Revelers of the Academicos do Tucuruvi samba school perform during the second night of the carnival parade at the Sambadrome in Sao Paulo



In Sao Paulo, Brazil's most populous city and its economic capital, the second day of carnival celebrations saw a number of samba schools parade through the streets in jaw-dropping costumes covered in diamantes, feathers... and not much more.



Revellers of the Casa Verde and Mocidade Alegre samba schools perform during the carnival



Revelers of the Vai-Vai samba school perform honouring France with their performance 'Je suis Vai-Vai. Bem-Vindos a Franca!



Uncovered: Two female dancers take to the streets of Sao Paulo during the Carnival celebrations despite warnings that the traditional clothes - or lack thereof - worn by performers and revellers could expose them to mosquitoes.


No fear: A dancer from one of the many local samba schools, Academicos do Tucuruvi, perform during the second night of the carnival parade at the Sambadrome in Sao Paulo.



Done with a laugh: A reveller stands beneath a mosquito net, as a satirical costume, during Carnival celebrations in Pernambuco state - the area in Brazil which has been worst affected by the Zika virus.

The annual mega-bash famed for lavish and skimpily dressed samba parades and all-night street dancing is expected to attract as many as five million people from all over the world. 

Dr Sergio Cimerman, Brazil's leading virologist, warned that the combination of huge crowds of people wearing little clothing and rain gathering on rubbish-filled streets will put participants in the celebrations held all over Brazil this weekend, at high risk.  

Belief that Zika causes microcephaly in children born to mothers infected while pregnant has prompted foreign governments to warn against traveling to much of Latin America.

The World Health Organization has declared an emergency and there are alarming, but still unconfirmed fears that the virus might also be transmittable through semen, blood and even saliva.

At the Zika epicenter, Brazil is simultaneously fighting mosquitoes and insisting that tourists face no danger at the Carnival or when they come to Rio in six months for the Summer Olympics. 

Rio authorities say they are eradicating stagnant water where mosquitoes breed, fumigating Olympic stadiums, and are advising athletes and fans to wear long-sleeved clothing, close their windows and apply repellant. 

Fumigators have been plying the Sambadrome, where thousands of dancers will perform during this weekend's samba school parades.

Health workers will be deployed to many of the city's more than 500 street parties, or 'blocos,' where thousands of revellers will gather to drink, dance, sweat and rub shoulders. 

But at the street party in central Rio - just one of scores taking place across the city Saturday  Luiz Marinho, 51, said the anti-mosquito war does not extend to less glamorous neighborhoods.

'Here in the center the mayor does everything necessary. It's perfect. There's no water around here, there's no garbage. There'll be garbage after this party, but it's asphalt and they'll just hose the place clean,' said Marinho, who works at a public hospital and was wearing a polka-dot sleeveless vest.

In the favelas, where Rio's working poor live in tightly packed streets with few public services, 'we have the real mosquito breeding sites,' he said. 'We have water lying around and we don't even have basic sanitation.'  

Health officials believe as many as 100,000 people have been exposed to the Zika virus in Recife, the area which has seen the highest number of cases, although most never develop symptoms. 

In the last four months, authorities have recorded around 4,000 cases in Brazil in which the mosquito-borne Zika virus may have led to microcephaly in infants.

The ailment results in an abnormally small head in newborns and is associated with various disorders including decreased brain development. 

The rapid spread of Zika is discouraging many Americans from traveling to Latin America and the Caribbean, with 41 percent of those aware of the disease saying they are less likely to take such a trip.

'I am actively trying to get pregnant with my husband, so I am a little bit concerned,' said Erica, a respondent who said she was bitten by a mosquito during a January trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Zika has been reported.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised pregnant women to avoid travel to areas with an active outbreak of Zika, and the World Health Organization has declared an international emergency over the disease. 

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Zika virus outbreak is likely to spread throughout nearly all the Americas.

Angelica Pereira holds her daughter Luiza, who was born with microcephaly, outside her house in Santa Cruz do Capibaribe, Pernambuco


Mayra, 11, kisses her mother Daniele Kelly, 31, who is seven months pregnant, inside their stilt house, a lake dwelling also known as palafitte or 'Palafito', in Recife



Ms Pereira, right, holds her daughter Luiza, who was born with microcephaly, as she talks to Milena Kaline, who is three months pregnant, second right, and Eliane Santos, who is eight months pregnant, at their neighborhood in Santa Cruz do Capibaribe