Latest news with #Oropouche
Malaysian Reserve
15-07-2025
- Health
- Malaysian Reserve
Quest Diagnostics Introduces Testing for Oropouche Virus
Diagnostic testing for emerging infectious disease associated with severe neurological affects SECAUCUS, N.J., July 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), a leader in diagnostic information services, today announced the launch of a new diagnostic laboratory test for the Oropouche virus, an emerging disease that is increasingly found in South and Central America and the Caribbean. 'As one of the leading providers of laboratory testing, Quest plays an essential role in ensuring the U.S. is prepared to respond to potentially dangerous emerging diseases, such as Oropouche virus,' said Yuri Fesko, MD, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Quest Diagnostics. 'By developing this test, we are prepared to act quickly to offer scalable testing to complement public health labs should this virus become a public health threat.' Oropouche virus is an emerging virus in the Americas that is spread to people by infected biting midges and some mosquito species. While the current threat to the public in North America remains low, Oropouche virus has been reported in parts of South America, Central America and the Caribbean, with the majority of infected individuals becoming symptomatic. Cases reported in the United States have been limited to travelers returning from countries with local transmission. Oropouche viral disease presents clinically with symptoms that overlap with those of other arboviral diseases such as Dengue, Zika and chikungunya. While most people recover on their own, Oropouche virus can also cause more severe neuroinvasive disease like meningitis and encephalitis. The test will be available with a prescription from a provider for clinical purposes at the end of the month. Quest's advanced laboratory in San Juan Capistrano, California, developed and will perform the test using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology, with serology testing to follow later this quarter. Reverse transcription PCR testing can identify the RNA of the virus during the early stages of infection to aid diagnosis. Serology testing, which identifies antibodies produced by the immune system in response to the virus, can help diagnose the virus in later stages of infection. In September 2024, Quest Diagnostics was awarded several contracts by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to support testing and sustained laboratory readiness for emerging infectious diseases, including the development of diagnostics to aid the detection of Oropouche virus. The company also launched the first commercially available diagnostic test for Avian Influenza A H5 based on the funding. The contracts provide funding to enable the company to maintain testing readiness, such as for adequate supplies of certain equipment and chemical reagents used to perform the tests, on a sustained basis, should the U.S. need to quickly mobilize response to safeguard public health. About Quest DiagnosticsQuest Diagnostics works across the healthcare ecosystem to create a healthier world, one life at a time. We provide diagnostic insights from the results of our laboratory testing to empower people, physicians and organizations to take action to improve health outcomes. Derived from one of the world's largest databases of de-identifiable clinical lab results, Quest's diagnostic insights reveal new avenues to identify and treat disease, inspire healthy behaviors and improve healthcare management. Quest Diagnostics annually serves one in three adult Americans and half the physicians and hospitals in the United States, and our nearly 55,000 employees understand that, in the right hands and with the right context, our diagnostic insights can inspire actions that transform lives and create a healthier world.
Vox
01-07-2025
- Health
- Vox
Meet the Oropouche virus. It may be visiting your city soon.
is a correspondent at Vox writing about climate change, energy policy, and science. He is also a regular contributor to the radio program Science Friday. Prior to Vox, he was a reporter for ClimateWire at E&E News. Oropouche virus disease was a relatively rare illness for decades, lurking on the margins of tropical rainforests in the Caribbean and South America. Sporadic reports of an infection causing fevers, coughs, chills, and body aches emerged among people living near or moving into the jungle. A tiny insect called a midge spreads the disease, and the earliest known case dates back to 1955 in a forest worker near a village called Vega de Oropouche in Trinidad. Since most people who were infected with the virus recovered on their own and since cases were so infrequent, it barely registered as a public health concern. But a few years ago, something changed. A major Oropouche fever outbreak beginning in 2023 infected at least 23,000 people across Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Peru. It wasn't just confined to remote wilderness areas but was spreading in metropolises like Rio de Janeiro. In some cases, travelers were infected and then brought the virus home: So far, Oropouche fever has sprung up in the US, Canada, and Europe in people returning from the afflicted region. The outbreak has killed at least five people. The sudden rise of Oropouche disease startled scientists and health officials. Since its discovery, there have only been around 500,000 known cases. By contrast, there are upwards of 400 million dengue infections each year. It's likely then that many more Oropouche infections have gone undetected, especially since its symptoms overlap with those from other diseases and there's little active screening for the virus. What you'll learn from this story What Oropouche fever is, how you can identify is and what spreads the disease. What researchers know about the startling outbreak across South American in 2023 and 2024. The threat the disease's spread poses to the United States. Now, researchers are looking back at the outbreak to try to find out what they missed and what lessons they can apply to get ahead of future epidemics. Oropouche virus is a critical case study in the complicated factors that drive vector-borne diseases. Dynamics like deforestation, urban sprawl, international travel, and gaps in surveillance are converging to drive up the dangers from infections spread by animals. And as the climate changes, new regions are becoming more hospitable to the blood suckers that spread these diseases, increasing the chances of these seemingly-remote infections making it to the US and getting established. That means more people will face threats from illnesses that they may never have considered before. 'It's very likely that these public health problems that people before called 'tropical disease' are not so tropical anymore and are basically everywhere,' said William de Souza, who studies arboviruses — viruses spread by arthropods like insects — at the University of Kentucky. 'Vector-borne disease is not a local problem; this is a global problem.' The rising specter of Oropouche fever comes at a time when the United States is cutting funding for research at universities, pulling back from studying vector-borne disease threats, and ending collaborations with other countries to limit their risk. The Oropouche virus is a classic case study in how humans worsen vector-borne disease The Oropouche virus belongs to the family of bunyaviruses. They appear as spheres under a microscope, and they encode their genomes in RNA, rather than DNA as human cells do. RNA viruses tend to have high mutation rates, making it harder to target them with vaccines and increasing the odds of reinfection. Oropuche's relatives include the viruses behind Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, spread by ticks, and Rift Valley fever, spread by mosquitoes. Oropouche spreads mainly through the bites of a 1- to 3-millimeter-long insect called, appropriately, a biting midge (Culicoides paraensis). Midges are sometimes called sand flies or no-see-ums in the US, and they breed in damp soil, rotting vegetation, and standing water. Like mosquitoes, they feed on blood to drive their reproduction, but their minuscule bodies can easily slip through mosquito nets. When a midge bites an infected host, it can pass on the pathogen to a human during a subsequent bite. There's also evidence that the virus may be sexually transmissible, but no such cases have been documented yet. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that male travelers from regions where Oropouche is spreading should not have sex for six weeks if they show symptoms of the disease. Vector-borne diseases like Oropouche continue to surprise us because there are so many variables that have to align in order to spread them — the pathogens, the vectors, the hosts, and the environment. Unlike diseases like Covid-19 or influenza, vector-borne illnesses don't spread directly from person to person. Instead, they require an animal, often arthropods like ticks, midges, and mosquitoes. The range, reproduction, and behavior of these organisms add another confounding factor in the spread of the diseases they carry. Globally, vector-borne diseases account for 17 percent of infectious diseases, leading to more than 700,000 deaths per year, according to the World Health Organization. But not every part of the world is equally vulnerable. In cooler regions, vector-borne infections are often a minor public health concern, but in countries like Brazil, 'it's at the top,' said Tatiane Moraes de Sousa, a researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) in Rio de Janeiro. 'Oropouche before 2024 was concentrated just in the Amazon. Last year, we saw the spreading of Oropuche in almost all Brazilian states.' That gets to the first obstacle in tracking Oropouche: Which animals are the reservoirs for the virus and where are they? So far, researchers have detected the virus in animals including sloths, capuchin monkeys, marmosets, domestic birds, and rodents. These organisms form what's known as the sylvatic, or forest, cycle of the virus. How the virus jumps between all these animals and which ones are most concerning for people is not known. Additionally, it may be possible that other insects may be able to carry the Oropouche virus, but it's not clear whether they can spread it to humans. The pattern that does emerge is that when people spend more time inside and around the fringes of tropical rainforests, where the animals that harbor the virus and the insects that spread them reside, they're more likely to get infected. With deforestation and development, more people are moving into areas where the disease naturally spreads. 'This is a classical example of how human behavior can lead to the emergence of a pathogen,' said Natasha Tilston, who studies Oropouche virus at the Indiana University School of Medicine. An aerial view of a logging yard in the Amazon rainforest. Tarcisio Schnaider via Getty Images People can travel great distances, and as people move back and forth from the wilderness to cities, they can unwittingly carry viruses like Oropouche. If enough of them gather in cities where vectors are present, they can trigger an urban epidemic cycle as the virus travels from person to midge to person. This was likely the pattern in the 2023–24 outbreak in major cities in South America. It's also true that more health workers were on guard for Oropouche and thus identified more infections. 'The outbreak is probably a combination of one, there are more cases, and two, we're also looking for a lot more than we did before,' Tilston said, noting that some past outbreaks of dengue may have actually been Oropouche as well. What set off the outbreak? One factor is that the virus likely evolved. Viruses mutate all the time, and most mutations are either inconsequential or detrimental to the virus, slowing or stopping its reproduction. But occasionally, a change can confer an advantage or make the pathogen more destructive. The Oropouche virus has a genome structure that makes it even more prone to a type of mutation called reassortment. 'Reassortment is when you have two similar viruses infect the same cell and they mix genomes,' explained University of Kentucky's de Souza. 'People previously infected by the old virus are now susceptible to new infection. This could help explain why the Amazon region, where this has been circulated for a long time, saw this emerge, because people were probably reinfected.' The strain behind the outbreak appears to reproduce faster and cause more severe illness than prior varieties as well. Part of the reason this outbreak racked up so many infected people is that health officials were starting to deploy the tools to identify on a wider scale. Particularly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, more health departments across the region built up their tools to detect viruses. But researchers still aren't sure exactly what spurred the virus to spread so suddenly across so many countries. Travel restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic started relaxing in 2023 and made it easier for people to move back and forth from the rural areas where the virus is endemic to the cities where it became established. The 2023 to 2024 outbreak also coincided with a powerful El Niño event that brought gargantuan amounts of rain and triggered unprecedented flooding across many parts of South America. These were also years that set new temperature records. Higher temperatures can speed up the reproduction of the virus inside midges. But scientists aren't exactly sure how this heat and water affected the vectors, though Brazil has seen outbreaks of other infectious diseases in the aftermath of floods. 'El Niño and other climate phenomena have been associated with the change of the patterns of many different vector-borne diseases,' de Souza said. 'For Oropouche specifically, we don't have the answers yet, but the likelihood of impact is very high.' On top of all this, there aren't any specific ways to keep an outbreak in check once it ignites. There are no vaccines or treatments for Oropouche fever yet. So when all the factors align to spread the disease, there isn't much people can do to target the disease, and when it reaches a new area, there aren't as many people with immunity and few health workers who know what they're dealing with. A health worker fumigates against the Aedes aegypti mosquito, a vector of the dengue, zika and Chikungunya viruses in Minas Gerais, Brazil, in 2024, as the country faced a substantial increase in dengue fever cases. The mosquito species has also been identified as a potential spreader of Oropouche virus, though plays a minor role compared to the biting midge. Douglas Magno, AFP via Getty Images How the US is preparing for diseases like the Oropouche virus Fortunately, the Oropouche outbreak has died down, but a variety of infections are gaining a toehold in new places as infected people travel and as vectors move into new habitats, and the US is increasingly vulnerable. According to the CDC, the number of vector-borne disease cases per year has doubled in the US since 2001. Last year, the US saw transmission of mosquito-borne diseases like Eastern equine encephalitis and West Nile virus. Malaria, a disease once eradicated across the country, saw the first local infections in 20 years in 2023 in Florida and Texas. Vectors like the Asian tiger mosquito are spreading further north as the climate changes and expands favorable conditions for its survival. With travelers moving back and forth from regions where diseases are endemic, many will unwittingly bring back dangerous souvenirs, whether a stowaway insect in their luggage or an infection in their blood. And with midges, mosquitoes, and ticks spreading to new regions, dangerous pathogens are extending their reach. There are ways to slow the spread of these diseases, however, and the US has managed to do so before. The US famously launched a successful campaign to eradicate malaria within its borders. The first step is to simply acknowledge the threat. As Oropouche showed, there may be diseases lurking closer than we realized that we simply haven't bothered to look for. It's fairly simple to do things like dump standing water where insects can breed or spray insecticides on midge breeding grounds. But some places are getting creative, working to build up habitats for fish, bats, birds, and dragonflies that are natural predators of mosquitoes and midges to limit their spread. Limiting the destruction and development in wilderness areas can reduce the likelihood of diseases spilling over from animals into humans. Some regions are looking at even more drastic ways to stymie vectors. One measure that's gaining traction is deploying sterile male mosquitoes. When they mate, they produce eggs that won't hatch, thus reducing the population of the insect. Brazil recently inaugurated a factory that breeds mosquitoes to carry a bacterium known as Wolbachia that prevents the mosquitoes from reproducing easily, slowing the viruses that cause dengue, Zika, and chikungunya, a disease that can cause fever and joint pain, now established in the Americas. Hawaii is using these mosquitoes to arrest the spread of avian malaria. Vaccines and treatments are critical tools for addressing the diseases directly. Many pathogens can be controlled with these measures, but because they more commonly spread in poorer countries, there is less investment in containing them. Many vector-borne diseases like Oropouche are considered 'neglected,' and so when they do spread beyond their typical range, there isn't much available to help those who get sick. But the growing burden of these diseases demands a new generation of tools that can target multiple threats. 'We are seeing so many outbreaks that we need broad vaccines,' said Fiocruz's Sousa. Additionally, vector-borne diseases aren't each waiting for their turns. Countries can have multiple outbreaks at the same time on top of all the other health concerns that emerge during severe weather like extreme heat or the healthcare disruptions in the wake of a disaster like a major storm. 'We are seeing cumulative threats because we are seeing not just one vector-borne disease,' Sousa said. 'In a lot of scenarios, we are also maintaining high levels of communicable diseases.' Right now, some health departments are being proactive, keeping an eye out for sick travelers, collecting mosquitoes in the wild to see what kinds of germs they're carrying, and coordinating with researchers across the country. 'We've been having bi-weekly meetings with CDC to talk about the potential for Oropouche coming into the US and spreading,' said Bethany Bolling, zoonotic virology group manager at the Texas Department of State Health Services. 'We've seen in the past that Florida and Texas are some of the primary areas where these new viruses start to establish, so in Texas, we're trying to be aware of Oropouche and what the vectors are.' For the US, Brazil's experience with Oropouche is an important lesson that could help health officials prepare and counter the disease when it inevitably arrives.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Study uncovers alarming prevalence of disease linked to stillbirths: 'Will become even more widespread in the future'
A new study has revealed that Oropouche virus may be more prevalent in Latin America than initially believed — and it may be negatively impacting a vulnerable population. Oropouche virus is a vector-borne disease, which means that a living organism is what passes it on to humans. In this case, mosquitoes and biting midges (a kind of fly) are the vectors that transmit Oropouche. According to The Telegraph, Oropouche virus was found outside of its endemic area of Brazil for the first time in October 2023. While the World Health Organization says it was also detected in Trinidad and Tobago in 1955, it has spread "rapidly" to other South American and Caribbean countries since the 2023 discovery, per the report. In fact, a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases suggests that Oropouche's stint in those regions may have started as early as 2001. Researchers analyzed 9,400 blood samples from 2001 to 2022 from patients in Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Peru. They found that 6.3% of individuals had Oropouche antibodies, indicating they were previously infected with Oropouche virus. While there is still a lot that researchers don't know about Oropouche virus, The Telegraph says it has been linked to stillbirths and birth defects. Pregnant people and their children are the most vulnerable to this disease. The study also found that the El Niño phenomenon accelerates Oropouche transmission. El Niño creates warmer and wetter weather, and Earth's warming climate — driven by human activities, mostly the burning of dirty fuels — has amplified this phenomenon over time. This weather allows mosquitoes and biting midges to thrive and infect more people, which spells health and environmental problems. "I think it's possible that Oropouche virus will become even more widespread in the future as climate change progresses," Dr. Jan Drexler, the head of the Virus Epidemiology Laboratory at the Institute of Virology at Charité and lead author of the study, told The Telegraph. Stopping the transmission of Oropouche virus can help keep global communities safe. Taking action to protect the environment can be one of the best ways to do this. Do you worry about getting diseases from bug bites? Absolutely Only when I'm camping or hiking Not really Never Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Individuals can help by reducing their heat-trapping pollution through adopting energy-efficient appliances, taking public transportation, and installing solar panels, among other things. There is no treatment for Oropouche virus, so the best way to protect yourself is to be preventative. There are many ways to protect yourself from Oropouche virus and other diseases, such as Zika and West Nile, that are transmitted by mosquitoes. The WHO recommends using mesh bed nets, chemical insecticides, protective clothing, and insect repellents. The authors of the study also recommend that health care workers in the Americas familiarize themselves with the signs and symptoms of Oropouche virus, per The Telegraph. These include fever, headaches, and muscle pain. The symptoms may overlap with those of other illnesses such as dengue fever, as the WHO explains, but knowing that Oropouche is an option may help with diagnoses and treatments. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Daily Record
05-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Record
Mystery deadly virus spreading silently is more dangerous than expected - and has no vaccine
A deadly virus - known as oropouche virus or sloth fever - is quietly spreading across South America and Europe as scientists fear it's more rampant than first believed. Scientists reveal Oropouche virus is more widespread and dangerous than they first believed. The virus - which is also known as sloth fever - has spread across South America over the past 18 months, as well as cases recently being discovered in Europe for the first time. The virus is transmitted by midges and some types of mosquito and it's largely contained in the Amazon region, the Mirror reports. Sloth fever was believed to be a mild infection, with headaches, rashes and nausea as the general symptoms. But, scientists have warned it could also lead to pregnancy loss or birth defects. Since late 2023, over 20,000 cases of oropouche virus have been reported across Latin America, sparked by a warming climate and increasingly frequent rain storms. Those living near the Amazon rainforest face the highest risk, with analysis suggesting up to 10% of the population may have previously had "sloth fever" - often without even knowing it. Professor Jan Felix Drexler, head of the Virus Epidemiology laboratory at the Institute of Virology at Charité, explains: "We therefore assume that the current oropouche outbreak has been fuelled by weather phenomenons like El Niño." El Niño refers to a weather pattern marked by above-average sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific Ocean. He adds: "By contrast, we have not found evidence that changing properties of the virus could provide an alternative explanation for the high case count at present." Professor Drexler has also sent an ominous warning for the rest of the world, explaining that the virus could spread even further out of the continent of South America. He states: "I think it's possible that oropouche virus will become even more widespread in the future as climate change progresses." Sloth fever was detected in Europe for the first time last year, with confirmed cases in Italy, Spain and Germany. Spain reported 12 cases of oropouche in June and July 2024, while Italy had five and Germany had two. Out of the 19 total cases, 18 had recently traveled to Cuba and one had previously visited Brazil. It is not believed any of these cases were internally transmitted in Europe, they had all picked up the virus outside of the continent. Oropouche virus was first identified in 1955 in Trinidad and Tobago, named after the Oropouche River as it was found nearby. Over the past 25 years, the virus has caused outbreaks in countries including Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Panama, and Peru. Additionally, in June last year Cuba had reported its first case of the infection. According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sloth fever symptoms start somewhere between three and 10 days after infection. Notably, there have been very few deaths among people infected with sloth fever. There is currently no medication to treat the virus and there is no vaccination to protect against it. Anyone who has been diagnosed with infection is advised to get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluids. No cases of sloth fever have been confirmed in the UK, and the risk of it spreading to Britain remains extremely low. However, health experts stress the importance of staying aware and seeking medical advice if there's any reason to suspect exposure. Dr Philip Veal, Travel Health Consultant at UKHSA, said: "The midge that carries Oropouche virus is not currently established in Europe. It is typically found in the Americas. There is no evidence that the virus can spread from person to person. "When travelling to affected areas, you can avoid the infection, and others such as dengue, Zika and malaria, by preventing insect bites. Use insect repellent, cover exposed skin and sleep under a treated bed net. Plan ahead and visit the TravelHealthPro website to look up your destination and the latest health information and advice, particularly if you are pregnant."
Daily Mirror
05-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mirror
Mystery deadly virus spreading quietly is more dangerous than thought - and there's no vaccine
Oropouche virus - or sloth fever, as it's also known - is a deadly virus that's quietly spreading across South America and Europe, and scientists fear it's more prevalent than first believed Oropouche virus is far more common and dangerous than previously believed, scientists have revealed. The virus - which is also known as sloth fever - has soared across South America over the past 18 months, and it's recently been discovered in Europe for the first time, too. It's spread by midges and some types of mosquito, and it's largely contained the Amazon region. Sloth fever was largely believed to be a mild infection, with general symptoms like headaches, rashes and nausea. But, it could also lead to pregnancy loss or birth defects, scientists warned. More than 20,000 cases of oropouche virus have been reported in Latin America since late 2023, sparked by a warming climate and more frequent rain storms. Anyone living around the Amazon rainforest was most at risk of infection, with analysis showing up to 10% of all people had previously had sloth fever - whether they knew it or not. 'We therefore assume that the current oropouche outbreak has been fueled by weather phenomenons like El Niño,' explains Professor Jan Felix Drexler, head of the Virus Epidemiology laboratory at the Institute of Virology at Charité. El Niño describes a weather phenomenon that causes a higher-than-average sea surface temperature in the central Pacific Ocean. 'By contrast, we have not found evidence that changing properties of the virus could provide an alternative explanation for the high case count at present," he added Professor Drexler also sent an ominous warning for the rest of the world, claiming the virus could spread even further outside the continent. "I think it's possible that oropouche virus will become even more widespread in the future as climate change progresses." Sloth fever was found in Europe for the very first time last year. It was confirmed in Italy, Spain and Germany. Spain reported 12 cases of oropouche in June and July of 2024. Italy had five cases, and Germany had two. Eighteen of the 19 cases had a travel history to Cuba, and one had previously visited Brazil. It's not believed any of the cases were internally passed on in Europe, and they all picked up the virus outside the continent. Oropouche was first discovered in 1955, in Trinidad and Tobago. It got its name after being found next to the Oropouche River. The virus has previously sparked outbreaks in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Panama, and Peru over the past 25 years. In June last year, Cuba reported its first case of the infection. Sloth fever symptoms tend to start somewhere between three and 10 days after infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There have been very few deaths among people infected with the virus, it added. There's no current medication to treat oropouche, and there's no vaccination to protect against it. Anyone that's been diagnosed with the infection would be advised to get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluids. There have been no confirmed cases of sloth fever in the UK, and the risk of it ever reaching Britain or Northern Ireland remains incredibly low. But, it's vital that everyone stays alert to the threat, and seeks medical attention if they think they could be at risk, health experts have claimed. Dr Philip Veal, Travel Health Consultant at UKHSA, said: 'The midge that carries Oropouche virus is not currently established in Europe. It is typically found in the Americas. There is no evidence that the virus can spread from person to person. 'When travelling to affected areas, you can avoid the infection, and others such as dengue, Zika and malaria, by preventing insect bites. Use insect repellent, cover exposed skin and sleep under a treated bed net. Plan ahead and visit the TravelHealthPro website to look up your destination and the latest health information and advice, particularly if you are pregnant.'
