Brazil confirms world’s first deaths from Oropouche virus

Brazil’s Health Ministry announced the world’s first deaths from the virus this week. Oropouche virusa virus that is currently affecting many Cuban provinces.

The deaths were two women under 30 years of age who lived in the state of Bahia, in the northeast of the country, and had no underlying health conditions, but “They had signs and symptoms similar to severe dengue fever”This was stated in a statement by the ministry of the South American country.

“Until now, there have been no reports of mortality from this disease in the world scientific literature.”

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Authorities are also investigating the possible death of Oropouche in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, while a possible case in the northeastern state of Maranhao has been ruled out.

Oropouche fever, transmitted by midges and mosquitoes, was first identified in Brazil in 1960. Since then, cases have been reported mainly in the Amazon region. The South American giant has recorded at least 7,236 cases this year.

The disease, common in other Latin American countries, has symptoms similar to dengue fever, although they are usually milder.

Oropouche virus spreads in Cuba

Cuba recognized the first cases of Oropouche fever in late May in the province of Santiago de Cuba. However, the disease has since spread alarmingly throughout the rest of the country.

In early July, Cuban health authorities reported that There were cases in at least twelve provinceswhile recognizing the lack of resources to control the epidemiological situation.

The European Centre for Infection Control (ECDC) recently reported that Spain and Italy have reported six cases in people who had travelled to Cuba.although only one of them required hospitalization.

Oropouche fever is an arbovirus disease transmitted through a bite. Culicoides paraensiscommonly known as midges, and some mosquitoes Culex quinquefasciatus.

The most common symptoms are fever, headache, joint stiffness, pain, chills, and sometimes nausea and vomiting.

Most symptoms typically appear four to eight days after infection and last five to seven days, although sometimes full recovery may take several weeks.

So far, the virus has been able to cause aseptic meningitis in the most serious cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), but no patient has died from the disease, as Brazil’s Ministry of Health just documented.

Until the closure of this note, the Cuban Ministry of Health (MINSAP) had not commented on the statement of its Brazilian counterpart.