Oropouche fever reaches Europe: Tourist from Italy contracts the disease in Cuba

This week, the Department of Infectious, Tropical Diseases and Microbiology in Verona, Italy, diagnosed the first case of Oropouche Fever in Europe, in a patient who traveled to Cuba. 

According to a report from the RepublicThe case was reported to the competent health authorities in the Veneto region, as well as to international information and monitoring services.

The iO Foundation, which develops global health projects, especially in the fields of infectious diseases and travel medicine, offered further details on the case.

Tourist visiting Cuba brings Oropouche Fever to Italy

The patient is a 26-year-old woman with no significant medical history who traveled to Ciego de Ávila, in central Cuba, from May 12 to 26, 2024, to “visit friends and family.” 

According to articleUpon returning to Italy on May 26, he presented symptoms including diarrhea, malaise, high fever, severe headache, and nausea during the flight. He also reported arthralgia and retroorbital pain. "No skin rash or exanthema was observed," they note.

The patient herself also reported that her relatives in Cuba had similar symptoms. A specific endpoint RT-PCR for the Oropouche virus (OROV) was then performed, which confirmed the diagnosis of infection.

Cases of Oropouche Fever

According to Federico Giovanni Gobbi, director of the Department of Infectious, Tropical Diseases and Microbiology, Oropouche Fever is one of the most widespread arboviruses in South America, with more than 500.000 cases diagnosed since 1955. 

Still, he considered this figure to be likely an "underestimate," given the limited diagnostic resources available in the region.

The latest epidemiological update indicates that, between late 2023 and 2024, "there were more than 5.000 cases of Oropouche Fever in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru, and recently also in Cuba."

In Cuba they have officially confirmed cases in Santiago de Cuba, Mayabeque, Cienfuegos and Villa Clara.