The news comes from the Infectious Diseases Department of Negrar (Verona) which, after the first European cases last June, – for the first time in the world – isolated the virus in the basic fluid of an Italian traveler who returned from Cuba, concerning which she was diagnosed with an infection more than 2 weeks previously
Not only bites from infected mosquitoes or midges, but also sexual intercourse could be a vehicle for the transmission of <a href="http://www.time.news/they-determine-the-presence-of-the-oropouche-virus-in-santiago-de-cuba-2024-05-29-021041/" title="They determine the presence of the Oropouche virus in Santiago de Cuba
– 2024-05-29 02:10:41″>Oropouche fever, the tropical infection that is widespread in South America and recorded the first cases in Italy this year. In fact some researchers from the Department of Infectious, Tropical and Microbiological Diseases of the Irccs Sacro Cuore Don Calabria of Negrar isolated the Oropouche virus – for the first time in the world – in the seminal fluid of an Italian traveler who returned from Cuba the infection was diagnosed
The study
According to the study, published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases,” sUntil today we knew that this infection is transmitted from man to man but indirectly, that is, through an insect bite. The possibility that our study has shown that the infection can be transmitted through sexual intercourse is not to be underestimated”, said Federico Giovanni Gobbi, director of the Department of Infectious, Tropical and Microbiological Diseases of part of Irccs Negrar and among the authors of the publication.
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Since the beginning of the year, about 10 thousand cases worldwide
From the beginning of the year to the beginning of September, there were about 10,000 cases of Oropouche fever in the world and Brazil is the most affected country with two deaths. Several cases of mother-to-child transmission have also been found, raising concerns that the virus, if contracted during pregnancy, could harm the fetus. In Italy, 5 cases have been recorded, all contracted during trips abroad.
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Brazil, the first two deaths from Oropouche fever recorded in the world
Italian researchers: “We need to explore more deeply the means of transmission”
Researchers are cautious at the moment: until now “no cases of direct transmission of the infection from person to person have been described”, states Gobbi. However, this mode of transmission has already been demonstrated for other mainly vector-borne viruses, such as Zika. “It is crucial to learn more about this virus that has been little studied so far”, says Concetta Castilletti, head of the Virology and Emerging Pathogens Unit of Irccs Negrar and co-author of the publication. “For this reason, after isolating the virus we immediately made it available, with a view to sharing and collaboration, to some of the most important Italian and foreign laboratories, including the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, the Spallanzani Institute of Rome , the Institute. of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, the Netherlands Center for Infectious Disease Control, the Charité Universitätsmedizin in Berlin”, concludes Castilletti
