EUROPE has recorded its first-ever cases of Oropouche virus, just days after Brazil saw two young women die of the illness.
The two unnamed people who visited Cuba showed up at separate hospitals in Italy with symptoms of the little-known disease, according to the Lancet.
The first, a 26-year-old woman, developed a typical fever and diarrhoea after returning to Verona on May 26 from a two-week trip to Ciego de Ávila, in central Cuba.
The second had travelled to Havana and Santiago de Cuba in early May and was treated in Fori, northern Italy, on June 7 after he began experiencing symptoms.
Tests by the Department of Tropical Infectious Diseases at the Sacred Heart Don Calabria Hospital, north of Verona, detected the Oropouche virus in the patients’ blood.
Both travellers have since fully recovered.
It is the first time an Oropouche infection has been diagnosed outside of Latin America, where the disease is currently spreading.
“We should definitely be worried,” Dr Danny Altmann, a Professor of Immunology at Imperial College London, told told The Telegraph.
“Things are changing and may become unstoppable.”
Since the diagnosis was disclosed, more travellers in Italy with recent visits to Latin America have tested positive for the virus, according to the study’s authors.
They cautioned that “significant human movement” could allow the virus to “broaden its spread,” expressing particular concern about the volume of travellers flying between Cuba and Europe during the summer.
The number of passengers could reach as many as 50,000 in August alone.
Most Oropouche infections are mild, with symptoms similar to Dengue, including a headache, body pains, nausea, a rash and sensitivity to light.
Some individuals may also experience gastrointestinal symptoms, like sickness and diarrhoea.
In severe cases, the virus can also attack the brain leading to meningitis or encephalitis, which can be fatal.
It has recently been linked to birth defects and miscarriages.
The virus, dubbed ‘sloth’ fever, circulates between primates, sloths, and birds, in the wild – before it is occasionally passed to humans by midges and mosquitoes.
A surge in cases of the bug, which is endemic in the Amazon Rainforest, has been recorded in Brazil this year – 7,284, up from 832 in 2023.
And many infections have been recorded in areas that have not previously seen the virus.
Cuba’s Ministry of Public Health of Cuba first reported Oropouche cases on May 27.
Since then a total of 74 cases have been confirmed.
Outbreaks have also been reported in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru.
Ecuador, French Guiana, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago have also recorded cases.
Last month, Brazil reported the world’s first deaths from the bug after two women in their early twenties passed away in Bahia state in the northeast of the country,
The two women, aged 21 and 24, suffered severe bleeding and hypotension and were reported dead on July 25.
In June Brazil’s health minister reported a pregnant woman lost her baby at 30 weeks, with the Oropouche virus detected in the umbilical cord and organs.
They also noted four cases of microcephaly – where a baby’s head is much smaller than expected.
A miscarriage at eight weeks’ gestation was also linked to the virus.
Oropouche fever is a disease caused by Oropouche virus
It is spread through the bites of infected midges (small flies) and mosquitoes.
Symptoms of Oropouche fever are similar to dengue and include headache, fever, muscle aches, stiff joints, nausea, vomiting, chills, or sensitivity to light.
Severe cases may result in brain diseases such as meningitis.
Symptoms typically start 4–8 days after being bitten and last 3–6 days.
Most people recover without long-term effects.
There are no specific medications or vaccines are available.
Precautions
Travellers heading to affected areas should take steps to avoid bug bites.
The virus is endemic in many South American countries, in both rural and urban communities.
Outbreaks are periodically reported in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Panama, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Wear tops with long sleeves and long trousers, apply insect repellent regularly, and sleep under a mosquito net if you are not in enclosed, air-conditioned accommodation.
Source: US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention
