By EFE
28 Aug 2024, 08:20 AM EDT
Miami – U.S. health authorities said Tuesday that they have identified 21 cases of Oropouche fever among people who returned from Cuba, three of whom had to be hospitalized.
The 21 cases were reported as of August 16, and most of them showed symptoms between May and July, with no deaths reported, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a weekly report.
Oropouche fever, for which there is no treatment or vaccine, is a vector-borne disease that spreads primarily between people through the bite of an insect commonly known as the blackfly or the Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito.
Symptoms include sudden onset of fever, headache, joint stiffness, aches, pains, and in some cases, double vision, persistent nausea and vomiting. Symptoms may last five to seven days.
In recent months, up to 8,000 confirmed cases have been detected in areas of South American and Caribbean countries such as Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Brazil and Cuba, with no history of this virus, which merited a health alert from the CDC. Of these cases, two resulted in the death of the patient.
Of the cases detected in the United States, twenty were in Florida and one in New York, according to the CDC.