What is Orupouche virus that infected 23,000 people in 2023? Can it be the next BIG EPIDEMIC?

Oropouche virus disease, a relatively rare illness for decades, has increasingly sprung up in the United States, Canada and Europe. What was earlier a disease that people recovered from on their own in 2023 infected over 23,000 people, killing at least five people. While five of 23,000 may seem like a small figure, the virus, which is spread by an insect called a midge, is rapidly mutating, and the sudden rise of Oropouche disease has startled officials, according to reports. What is Oropouche? Are you in danger? How to protect yourself and your family from this virus? Here's all you need to know.

What is Oropouche?

Oropouche, as per a new study posted in Nature, is an "emerging virus" transmitted by biting midges. It was first identified in Trinidad and Tobago in 1955. In 1960, it was then isolated from sloths in Brazil. Since then, it has caused over 80 outbreaks in South and Central America.

What are the symptoms of Oropouche disease?

Historically, the disease is characterised by symptoms like fever, intense headache, chills, muscle pain, joint pain, rashes and nausea and vomiting. However, as per the Nature study, the Oropouche virus (OROV) may be transmitted vertically (from a pregnant woman to her child). During the 2023 outbreak, it led to two foetal deaths and, in one case, caused a congenital anomaly. It also killed at least five people.

As per VOX, since its discovery, there have been 500,000 known cases of Oropouche disease. However, it is likely that many more cases went undetected, given that there's little to no active screening and its symptoms overlap with those of other diseases. What was once a disease only affecting people living in or near tropical rainforests in the Caribbean and South America has now been detected in metropolises like Rio de Janeiro.

Scientists warn that with climate change "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".

Talking to the publication, William de Souza, who studies arboviruses — viruses spread by arthropods like insects — at the University of Kentucky, said, "It's very likely that these public health problems that people before called 'tropical diseases' are not so tropical anymore and are basically everywhere. He added that Vector-borne disease are no longer a" local problem; this is a global problem."

How to stop the spread of Oropouche?

The disease mainly spreads from the bites of a biting midge (Culicoides paraensis), sometimes referred to as sand flies. These insects breed in damp soil, rotting vegetation and standing water. They also feed on blood to drive their reproduction, but are too small for mosquito nets. To keep you and your family safe from them, cleanliness is important.

Another way the virus may be able to spread is sexually. While there are no documented cases of this, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that male travellers from regions where Oropouche is spreading should not have sex for six weeks if they show symptoms of the disease.

Oropouche, unlike COVID-19, is a vector-borne disease, i.e., it needs a host – like ticks, midges, and mosquitoes – to spread the disease. With people spending time inside and around the fringes of tropical forests, where carriers of this disease reside, humans are now more likely to get infected. "This is a classical example of how human behaviour can lead to the emergence of a pathogen," said Natasha Tilston, who studies Oropouche virus at the Indiana University School of Medicine.