What is oropouche fever, a disease that has health authorities in the region on alert?

• This viral disease, transmitted by the bite of an insect known as the jején, has recently experienced an outbreak in Latin America and has reached the United States | Photo: EFE

U.S. health authorities said Tuesday, August 27, that they had identified 21 cases of oropouche fever among people who returned from Cuba, three of whom were hospitalized.

The 21 cases were reported as of August 16, and most of them showed symptoms between May and July, with no deaths reported, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a weekly report.

Oropouche fever is vector-borne and spreads primarily between people through the bite of an insect commonly known as Jején (the Culicoides paraensis) or the mosquito A five-sided mosquitoaccording to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

Culicoides paraensis (the smallest) and A five-sided mosquito (the biggest) | Photo outlet from PAHO

Symptoms include sudden onset of fever, headache, joint stiffness, aches, pains, and in some cases, double vision, persistent nausea and vomiting. Symptoms may last five to seven days.

An untreatable disease

For PAHO, the risk level in the region is “high” due to the limited information on a disease that was first detected in 1955 near the Oropouche River in Trinidad and Tobago and still has no treatment. Today, it is expanding to areas outside of the zones considered endemic, in addition to the deaths discovered and possible cases of vertical transmission related to fetal deaths and microcephaly in newborns.

In recent months, up to 8,000 confirmed cases have been detected in areas of South American and Caribbean countries such as Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Brazil and Cuba, with no history of this virus, which merited a health alert from the CDC.

The first two deaths attributed to the oropouche

Brazil is experiencing an unprecedented outbreak, with 7,767 cases of the disease this year, including two women, aged 21 and 24, who died from the virus without having comorbidities, according to health authorities.

Of the cases detected in the United States, twenty were residents of Florida and one was in New York, according to the CDC.

A virus outbreak has Latin America on alert

Authorities in Brazil, Cuba and Colombia are concerned about the recent outbreak of oropouche, which has caused two deaths for the first time in the South American giant, while in other countries in the region, where there is still no data on cases, actions are being taken to prevent its spread.

In July 2024, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) issued an epidemiological alert due to the increase in positive cases of the oropouche virus (OROV) in five countries in the Americas: Bolivia, Peru, Cuba, Colombia, and Brazil.

Since 2023, health authorities have begun testing for oropouche, after identifying numerous cases of people with symptoms similar to those of dengue, zika or chikungunya, but who tested negative.

Most cases have been recorded in the Amazon region and in Bahia.

Meanwhile, in Cuba, cases have increased “considerably” since the first positive cases were confirmed on May 27, in the province of Santiago de Cuba, according to a warning from the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap).

Since then, according to authorities, cases have spread to all 15 provinces on the island and the number of sick people has now exceeded 400. They describe the epidemiological situation as “complex” due to the simultaneous circulation of this pathogen with others such as influenza and dengue.

The sporadic torrential rains of summer and the fuel crisis on the island, which makes fumigation impossible, have served as a breeding ground for the spread of the disease.

In Colombia, the oropouche is endemic in the Caribbean, Darien and the Amazon.

Due to ongoing surveillance of dengue, the country has been able to identify 87 positive samples in 2024, out of 1,279 samples of febrile dengue disease, according to data from the National Institute of Health (INS).

The director general of the INS, Giovanny Rubiano García, assured in early August that measures for the prevention and control of infection “remain active.”

According to the Epidemiological Surveillance System (Sivigila), 94.6% of the cases of oropouche detected are from the Amazon, 2.7% are from Tabatinga, Brazil; 1.4% from Caquetá and 1.4% from Meta. Of the total cases, 42.8%, or 27, were identified in the indigenous population, and 3.2% (2) in pregnant mothers.

Argentina, Mexico and Uruguay increase controls

In Argentina, where no cases of the virus have been detected after 966 laboratory tests carried out as a surveillance measure turned out negative, epidemiological surveillance measures were reinforced in August and the Health Ministry published a list of preventive measures.

These include the installation of “barrier methods” in homes, personal protection measures and a series of “good socio-environmental practices” such as the drainage of water collections.

In Mexico, there have been no cases so far, but the Undersecretariat of Prevention and Health Promotion issued a preventive travel advisory for this disease on June 4 to Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba and Peru.

The document stated that the risk level was medium, so it asked travelers who were planning to visit any of these countries to inform themselves about the situation and to have all the vaccinations, in addition to protecting themselves against mosquito bites, using special repellents and appropriate clothing.

He also asked that people seek medical attention if they have any symptoms up to 12 days after returning from the trip.

At the moment, the Ministry of Public Health of Uruguay has not detailed information regarding the virus. However, in recent days, the local newspaper The Observer The ministry reported that it sent a communication to various health providers to inquire about travel history in case they find any suspicious cases.

With information from EFE

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