ECDC alert for disease carried by tourists from Cuba to Europe

The European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC), for the possible transfer of cases of Oropouche fever to , by tourists travelling to Cuba and stricken by insects carrying him . Scientists point out that confirmed cases of Oropouche fever have been detected in Europe, namely three in Italy and more in Spain. Patients had symptoms of the virus, such as fever, joint pains and severe headaches. One of them had to be hospitalized. As quoted in the ECDC weekly report, the first case was recorded in Italy in June on a traveler returning from Cuba Island, who had to finally be admitted to hospital for a four-day hospital. Then, however, two more cases were diagnosed in travellers returning Italy from the same destination, but these incidents showed milder symptoms. The three cases in Spain were recorded within July and all experienced the same symptoms, i.e. arthralgia, myalgia, rash and fever. Today everyone is well in their health. What Oropouche fever caused by the oropoucheense virus is The European health authorities are ringing the alarm. Oropouche’s disease, as they say, is a zoonoses caused by the orthopausal virus (oropoucheense virus), which is transported by insect bites. Tourists travelling from Europe to Cuba cannot be excluded from risk of being offended, although the risk is significantly limited if all the measures proposed by the authorities are taken. The main vector of the virus is the insect Culicoides paraensis midge, which is widely circulating on the American continent, but does not exist in Europe. According to the authorities, European species of gnats or mosquitoes do not transmit the oropouchense virus. Therefore, until today, the disease had never crossed the borders of the American continent and cases had never been reported in Europe. Wild birds and mammals are also considered the natural hosts of the virus. Cases in Europe, according to the ECDC, may relate exclusively to travel and to travellers visiting controversial areas of the disease. To date cases of Oropouche fever have occurred in countries of South America, namely Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Bolivia and Colombia, but also in the Caribbean (Panamas, Trinidad and Tobago). As ECDC scientists say, Greece belongs to the countries with 1,000 to 5,000 visitors per year in Cuba, so there is no way that an incident will be detected in our country. Personal protective measures include simple and well-known instructions to protect against mosquito bites and gnaps. How the disease manifests in humans Oropouche virus disease may occur in humans as an acute febrile disease (with headache, nausea, vomiting, muscle and joint pains), and more severe symptoms (haemorrhages and meningitis) are not excluded. So far no human-to-human transmission of the virus has been documented. Source: Ioanna Soulaki / Iatropedia.gr