Europe has confirmed its first-ever cases of Oropouche infection, just weeks after two women in Brazil died from the viral fever, the first-ever recorded deaths from the tropical disease.
Health chiefs in Europe have warned tourists not to travel to parts of South America and the Caribbean after cases of Oropouche virus were found in people returning from Brazil and Cuba.
This represents the first time 19 cases of Oropouche virus disease have been reported in Europe, with 12 of the cases in Spain, five in Italy, and two in Germany. All of the cases were imported, with 18 patients having traveled to Cuba and one to Brazil. In South America, Oropouche virus disease is ranked as the second most common insect-borne viral infection after dengue.
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OROV is known to appear in South America, Central America, and the Caribbean, most specifically in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and Cuba. This year, there were nearly 7,300 cases, as opposed to 832 in the previous year.
Brazilian health officials, however, indicated that Oropouche is capable of being transmitted from mother to child and was responsible for birth defects and miscarriages in Brazil.
Both of the women who died in Brazil last July were in their 20s and showed quick-onset symptoms: fever, severe pain in the joints, headache, and hemorrhaging.
What is Oropouche Fever (OROV) Disease?
Oropouche fever, or OROV, is a very rare zoonotic disease in humans caused by the bites of midges, gnats, and mosquitoes, particularly by the Culicoides paraensis midge. This is its principal vector, widely distributed in the Americas but absent in Europe.
Death from OROV diseases is very rare, and thus, recent fatalities in Brazil are of high concern.
There have been no reports of human-to-human transmission of OROV diseases.
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Oropouche Virus Symptoms
If the Oropouche virus is contracted in humans, then it will manifest with the following signs and symptoms: high temperature, headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and skin rashes. Other symptoms, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, include muscle pain, stiff joints, chills, and photophobia.
“Severe cases may result in neuroinvasive disease, such as meningitis,” the CDC warns.
Symptoms generally show up four to eight days after a person is bitten and last three to six days, with most people recovering without long-term effects, according to the CDC. There is currently no known treatment or vaccine for Oropouche virus disease.
The disease is often misdiagnosed as dengue fever.
The Oropouche virus is named after the region where it was first discovered. The Oropouche River in Trinidad and Tobago is the place from where the virus was first isolated back in the year 1955 at the Trinidad Regional Virus Laboratory.
