Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Saturday launched a door-to-door "war" on mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus, vowing they will not jeopardize the Rio Olympics in August.

"The situation does not compromise the Olympics," Rousseff said as she joined soldiers in a nationwide campaign to teach citizens how to fight the outbreak.

"We are confident that by the time the Olympics begin we will have considerable success in exterminating the mosquito" known as Aedes aegypti that transmits the virus, she said.