La Jornada – American tourists have been infected with Oropouche virus or sloth fever

NEW YORK — More than 20 people who returned to the United States from Cuba in recent months have been infected with an insect-borne virus, federal health authorities said Tuesday. All have contracted Oropouche, a viral disease also known as sloth fever.

None of those people have died, and there is no evidence the disease is spreading in the United States. But authorities are warning American doctors to be on the lookout for transmission among travelers from South America and Cuba.

Here is a review of the disease and the reason for the alert:

Oropouche is a virus native to tropical forest areas. It was first identified in 1955 in a 24-year-old forest worker on the island of Trinidad, and is named after a village and nearby wetlands.

It is sometimes called sloth fever because the first scientists to examine the virus found it in three-toed sloths, and they believed that these animals were important for its transmission between insects and animals.

The virus is transmitted to humans through the bite of small flies called mosquitoes, and some species of mosquitoes. Humans have become infected by visiting forested areas and are thought to contribute to the virus’s arrival in urban areas, but human-to-human transmission has not been documented.

Since late last year, the virus has been identified as the cause of widespread outbreaks in areas of the Amazon where it was known to exist, as well as in new areas of South America and the Caribbean. About 8,000 local infections have been reported in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Cuba.

Some travelers have been diagnosed in the United States and Europe. On Tuesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 21 cases have been reported in the United States so far — 20 in Florida and one in New York — all of them in Cuba. European health authorities had previously reported 19 cases, almost all among travelers.

Symptoms may be similar to those of other tropical diseases such as dengue, Zika or malaria. Common symptoms include fever, headache and muscle aches, and some people also have diarrhea, nausea, vomiting or a rash.

Some patients have recurring symptoms, and 1 in 20 may develop more serious symptoms such as bleeding, meningitis, and encephalitis. The disease is not usually fatal, although two otherwise healthy young men have recently died in Brazil.

There are no vaccines to prevent infection or medications to treat the symptoms.

In Brazil, authorities are investigating reports that the disease can be transmitted from a pregnant woman to her fetus, bringing back eerie memories of what was seen during the Zika outbreak nearly a decade ago.

The CDC recommends that pregnant women avoid nonessential travel to Cuba, and that all travelers take steps to prevent insect bites, such as using insect repellent, long-sleeved shirts, and long pants.