The virus was recently detected in Europe for the first time, with 19 cases reported across Spain, Italy, and Germany. With cases of Black Death plague, mpox and bird flu preoccupying health authorities worldwide, there is another deadly virus causing concern. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has to clinicians and public health authorities about the rise in Oropouche virus (OROV) disease cases in the Americas, with expectations that new cases may be reported in additional countries.
In June and July of this year, 19 cases of Oropouche virus disease, also referred to as "sloth fever," were reported for the first time in European countries. Of these, 12 cases were in Spain, five in Italy, and two in Germany, according to a by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) earlier this month. These cases were imported by travellers returning from regions where the virus is active, including Cuba and Brazil, the ECDC indicated.
The Oropouche virus primarily spreads in Central and South America and the Caribbean. Last month, Brazil reported its from the virus, with two women, aged 21 and 24, succumbing to severe bleeding and hypotension amid an outbreak of the disease. Additionally, the month before, a woman who exhibited symptoms of the Oropouche virus at 30 weeks, and the virus was subsequently detected in the umbilical cord and organs.
The Oropouche virus is primarily transmitted to humans through the bites of infected midges, which are tin.