The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) issued a bulletin on Saturday warning of the risks of vertical transmission of Oropouche fever from pregnant women to their fetuses, Agencia Brasil reported. The regional branch of the World Health Organization (WHO) based its decision on recent highly worrying changes in the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the disease, including the recording of cases in venues outside the so-called endemic regions, it was explained. Also taken into consideration for the issuance of the high-level alert were two deaths in the Brazilian State of São Paulo.
In addition, PAHO monitors fetal abortions and cases of newborns with anencephaly that could be related to the infection. Recognizing that these observations are still in the early stages of research and that the true pathway of the disease is still unknown, the risk level for the region has been raised to high, PAHO's document read. All this based on the current and available information, with a moderate level of confidence and with great caution, it went on.
According to the bulletin, the criteria considered to update the regional risk level for Oropouche fever include potential risk to human health. The clinical presentation of the virus in most cases varies from mild to moderate with self-limited symptoms that usually resolve within seven days. Although complications are rare, sporadic cases of septic meningitis have been documented.
More recently, two cases of de.