Oropouche virus confirmed in US travelers returning from Cuba
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Key takeaways:
- More than 20 U.S. travelers returned from Cuba with Oropouche virus, which has been dubbed “sloth fever.”
- The virus is endemic to the Amazon but has been spreading.
According to a new report, 21 U.S. residents have returned from travel in Cuba this year with Oropouche virus, which is spread through fly or mosquito bites.
“The emergence of Oropouche virus, even though the cases are travel-related, is a cause for concern,” Steve Harrison, manager for Orange County (Florida) Mosquito Control, said in a press release. “It highlights the interconnectedness of global health and the potential for mosquito-borne diseases to spread in other parts of the world.”
Oropouche virus is spread primarily by small flies called midges, but also by mosquitoes, according to the CDC. It is endemic in the Amazon and has caused cases in South America, Central America and the Caribbean. Non-human transmission occurs in forests between mosquitoes and vertebrates, including sloths, according to the CDC.
Symptoms of the virus start 3 to 10 days after being bitten and are similar to other arboviruses, including headache, fever, muscle and joint aches, nausea, vomiting, chills and sensitivity to light, according to the new report in MMWR by Andrea Morrison, PhD, vector-borne disease surveillance coordinator in the Florida Department of Health, and colleagues.
There is no specific treatment, but most people recover without long-term effects within about a week, according to the CDC.
Since December 2023, Oropouche virus has caused outbreaks in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba and Peru, with more than 8,000 cases reported overall as of August. In June and July, 19 travel-related cases were identified in Europe, 18 of whom had returned from Cuba and one from Brazil, according to Morrison and colleagues.
The researchers noted that 21 residents returning from Cuba between May and July — 20 in Florida and one in New York — reported symptoms and were confirmed to have Oropouche virus via real-time PCR, plaque reduction neutralization test, or both. Three were hospitalized and none died.
Among the U.S. patients, fever (95%), myalgia (86%), headache (76%), fatigue or malaise (62%) and arthralgia (57%) were the most common symptoms, with a combination of fever and myalgia with or without other symptoms (81%), a combination of fever and headache (71%) or a combination of all three (62%) also common among them, according to the researchers.
Morrison and colleagues said health care providers should consider Oropouche virus in patients who have been somewhere the virus has been documented or is suspected to have been circulating and request testing if they suspect a case.
“As a result of the emergence and spread of Oropouche virus in the Americas, CDC is working with state public health jurisdictions and international partners to enable rapid detection and surveillance of Oropouche virus transmission and disease to guide public health prevention measures,” they wrote.
References:
- CDC. Travelers’ health: Oropouche in Cuba. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/level2/oropouche-cuba. Updated Aug. 16, 2024. Accessed Aug. 28, 2024.
- Morrison A, et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2024;doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7335e1.
- Orange county mosquito control tackles dengue fever and oropouche virus. https://newsroom.ocfl.net/media-advisories/press-releases/2024/08/orange-county-mosquito-control-tackles-dengue-fever-and-oropouche-virus/. Published Aug. 27, 2024. Accessed Aug. 28, 2024.
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