Health alerts for three new imported cases of Oropuche virus in the Canary Islands

The symptoms are fever, diarrhea and joint pain, and since tests carried out in the Canary Islands for dengue fever, Zika virus and chikungunya were negative, two samples from patients from Tenerife, taken at the Nuestra Señora de Candelaria University Hospital and the Gran Canaria patient taken to the Dr. Negrin University Hospital in Gran Canaria, were sent to the National Center for Microbiology, an organization that has just confirm three positive.

Three people evolved favorable after taking the drug, and none of them required hospitalization. In addition, three more cases are currently being studied, one of which has been studied for several weeks.

These three confirmed cases add to a man’s case reported earlier this month. Lives in Gran Canaria for 49 years. who developed symptoms after returning from a trip to Cuba. In this case, too, there was a favorable development without hospitalization, the epidemiological episode of which has already been discussed. closed.

The Coordination Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies (CCAES) has reported several cases in previous weeks in other autonomous communities such as Galicia, Andalusia, the Basque Country and Madrid.

To date, human outbreaks of Oropouche virus have been declared in Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, Panama or Trinidad and Tobago, and travellers are advised to prevent mosquito biteespecially in the case of pregnant women or women planning to conceive, as well as travellers with compromised immune systems or chronic diseases, as they constitute high-risk population groups.

Oropouche virus, first identified in 1955 in Vega de Oropouche (Trinidad), is a disease transmitted by the bite of mosquitoes (Culicoides paraensis and Culex quinquefasciatus), which are currently not present in Europe, as its natural habitat is Latin America.

The main symptoms of this infection include vomiting, nausea, fever, headache and diarrhea, among others, and its duration is usually between five and seven days. In very rare cases, the disease manifests itself with serious symptoms. aseptic meningitis.

There were notifications until July 30, 2024 8078 cases in countries such as Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Cuba and Colombia, so the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) issued an epidemiological alert on August 1, calling on countries to strengthen surveillance and improve laboratory diagnostics to detect and control the virus.