The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a warning to travelers to the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. The warning concerns an outbreak of Oropouche virus disease in the area. Symptoms are similar to those of other tropical infectious diseases.
Fever, joint and muscle pain, and skin rashes are some of the symptoms of Oropouche virus disease; they are similar to those of other arboviruses, such as dengue, chikungunya, or Zika.
Most cases of Oropouche are mild.
But meningitis and encephalitis can still occur, as well as malformations or death of foetuses, after infection during pregnancy. Even more worrying: two young Brazilian women, who had no comorbidities, succumbed to the disease last July.
The Orov virus, which causes the disease, is transmitted by bites from infected midges; some species of mosquitoes can also spread it.
It is described as a mysterious threat, about which medical literature still has little knowledge, despite the half a million cases recorded since it was first detected in Trinidad and Tobago in 1955.
Since then, outbreaks have been identified in the Caribbean and Latin America, particularly in Cuba, northern Brazil and the Amazon region. This year, 8,000 cases have been identified in this area. Hence the warning issued to travellers going there or having been there. In Europe, 19 imported cases have been reported since the beginning of 2024; 18 of these patients had travelled to Cuba and the last one to Brazil.
