This Tropical Virus Is Spreading Out of the Amazon to the US and Europe
Wiredoutbreaks of Oropouche virus have flared up in the Amazon for decades, but historically the pathogen has little troubled the rest of the world. Most of this year’s 11,000-plus cases occurred in Brazil and Peru, where the virus is an old acquaintance, but it has also been found in 2024 in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama, and Cuba—the latter reporting 603 cases as well as in-country transmission for the first time. An Oropouche infection is generally uncomplicated, if unpleasant, though for the first time this year Brazil recorded two deaths linked to the virus. “It brings together three links: the virus, the vector, and humans.” A Natural Cycle With Gaps In 1955, a young charcoal burner fell ill after spending two weeks working and sleeping in the forest near the Oropouche River in Trinidad and Tobago. In fact, the disease is also known as “sloth fever.” It is not understood what role sloths and nonhuman primates play in the transmission cycle, says Navarro.
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