RE: Sloth Virus18 Aug 2024 13:39
It’s never ending.
There have been more than 10,000 cases reported this year, with 19 in Europe, and the first two deaths caused by the disease have been confirmed in Brazil. So what do we know about the virus, how it got to Europe, and what the risks are?
Oropouche virus is a zoonotic disease mainly transmitted to humans as a result of being bitten by infected midges, though some mosquitoes can also carry and spread it.
It was first discovered in Trinidad and Tobago in 1955, on the Oropouche River - which is where its name derives from.
It has been circulating in Latin America and the Caribbean since then, with sporadic outbreaks in countries such as Brazil and Peru. There have been around 500,000 recorded cases since the disease was discovered, according to The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.
Oropouche has been colloquially referred to as sloth virus or sloth fever because the disease is believed to have a reservoir in pale-throated sloths, along with non-human primates and rodents, meaning they are natural hosts to the virus and carry it.
The virus is also being found in areas where sloths, which carry a range of parasites and pathogens, are present, says Carolina Goncalves, superintendent pharmacist at Pharmica.