In the midst of rising dengue cases, the Health Ministry has advised that it is also paying close attention to the Oropouche Virus, which is currently making its way through Brazil.
At a press conference this morning, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said: “I have confirmed with CARPHA this morning that we are now testing for the Oropouche Virus, in case we have it in Trinidad and Tobago.
He said: “What CARPHA is doing- the blood sample that we send to them for Dengue- once those samples are negative, they do a second screening for Oropouche virus, because the signs and symptoms tend to be the same and may overlap.”
“So we want to know whether we are dealing with Oropouche virus at the same time,” he added.
According to the World Health Organisation, Oropouche virus disease is an arboviral disease caused by the Oropouche virus (OROV), a segmented single-stranded RNA virus that is part of the genus Orthobunyavirus of the Peribunyaviridae family.
The virus has been found to circulate in Central and South America and the Caribbean.
OROV can be transmitted to humans primarily through the bite of the Culicoides paraensis midge, found in forested areas and around water bodies, or certain Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitos.
Symptoms are similar to dengue and start between four to eight days (range between three-12 days) after the infective bite. The onset is sudden, usually with fever, headache, joint stiffness, pain, chills, and sometimes persistent nausea and vomiting, for up to five to seven days.