From Milan, a test for Oropouche fever, which came under the spotlight in June, when the first European case of the disease caused by this pathogen, normally widespread in the Amazon region, was identified in Veneto. The team from the Bioemergency Unit of the Asst Fatebenefratelli Sacco, directed by Maria Rita Gismondo, developed the test capable of diagnosing infection by the Oropouche virus. The tool has already given the first results: the test has in fact led to the diagnosis of the first 2 cases in Lombardy, the facility informs in a note. Cases that bring the national total to 4 (with the Venetian case of the 25-year-old traveler taken care of by the Irccs Sacro Cuore Don Calabria of Negrar, Verona, and that of a traveler in his fifties followed at the hospital in Forlì). These are imported cases, of people returning from Brazil and Cuba.
Symptoms, how it is transmitted
The infection causes very high fever, joint and muscle pain and a skin rash. It is transmitted to humans through the bites of midges or mosquitoes. The main arthropod vector Culicoides paraensis is currently present only in South and Central America and is not present in Europe, they explain from the Milanese hospital. To date, there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the Oropouche virus.
“The importance of these diagnoses carried out in Italy – says Gismondo – is essential to monitor the spread of the virus. Currently, the diagnosis is the prerogative of reference centers for arbovirosis, like ours, and is mainly based on home-made molecular techniques. Faced with the spread of viruses, even if there are no risks in our country, it is always important not to underestimate the symptoms and epidemiological data and to contact the reference laboratories”.
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