Italian authorities have diagnosed the first case in Europe of Oropouche fever in a patient who had recently traveled to Cuba.
The Department of Infectious, Tropical, and Microbiological Diseases of the IRCCS Sacro Cuore Don Calabria in Negrar (Verona) reported the case to the local health authorities of the Veneto region, as well as to international information and surveillance services, according to a note published by the newspaper La República.
The patient, a 26-year-old Italian woman with no relevant medical history, visited Ciego de Ávila, Cuba, from May 12 to 26, 2024, as a VFR (Visiting Friends and Relatives), detailed the IO Foundation, dedicated to the study and control of Infectious Diseases worldwide.
Upon returning to Italy on May 26, the traveler presented concerning symptoms: diarrhea, general discomfort, high fever, intense headache, nausea, joint pain, and retroorbital pain, although she did not display a skin rash or exanthema.
Initially, dengue was suspected due to the observed leukopenia (lymphopenia), but rapid tests for dengue, as well as RT-PCR for dengue, Zika, and chikungunya viruses, turned out negative.
However, the patient reported that her relatives in Cuba presented similar symptoms, which led the doctors to perform a specific RT-PCR for the Oropouche virus (OROV), thus confirming the infection.
The virus was isolated in the department's level 3 biosafety laboratory, a crucial step in developing specific diagnostic tests and studies on the ability of vectors (mosquitoes and midges) to carry the virus, vectors that are also widespread in Italy.
The Oropouche fever is caused by the virus of the same name (OROV), discovered in 1955 in the blood of a forestry worker from Trinidad and Tobago.
"It is a virus widely spread in the Amazon region, transmitted to humans mainly through bites of sandflies and mosquitoes," explained Federico Giovanni Gobbi, director of the Department of Infectious, Tropical, and Microbiological Diseases at Irccs Sacro Cuore Don Calabria Hospital in Negrar.
It is one of the most widespread arboviruses in South America, with more than 500,000 diagnosed cases since 1955, although this figure is likely underestimated due to the limited diagnostic resources available in the affected areas.
Recently, between late 2023 and 2024, outbreaks of Oropouche fever have been reported in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and alarmingly, also in Cuba.
Cases have been reported on the Caribbean island in Santiago de Cuba, Villa Clara, Mayabeque, and other provinces.
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