The virus after an outbreak in Brazil can spread from mother to fetus

A virus that caused a major outbreak in Brazil this year can be spread from a pregnant woman to her fetus. Confirmation of several cases of transmission in utero means the virus, called Oropouche, shares a feature with two other insect-borne viruses, Zika and dengue.

The stillbirth of a 40-year-old woman this summer in Brazil was linked to transmission of the virus from woman to fetus, researchers report Oct. 30 in New England Journal of Medicine. (The World Health Organization defines stillbirth as the death of a fetus after 28 weeks of pregnancy.) The Brazilian Ministry of Health has also confirmed two other deaths due to the spread of the Oropouche virus in utero: one stillbirth up to a 28-year-old. -Elderly woman and baby born with congenital anomalies who died after 47 days. There are other possible cases of in utero transmission that are being investigated.

As of mid-October, Brazil has reported more than 8,000 cases of Oropouche fever since the beginning of the year. It’s the biggest explosion in America this year; some of the other countries with cases include Peru, with more than 900, and Cuba, with more than 500. Infections can cause fever, chills, joint pain and severe headaches, among other symptoms. The virus is mainly spread by biting Culicoides paraensis flies, which are very small flies, and sometimes from mosquitoes. As with Zika, there is no medicine to treat Oropouche fever or vaccines that target the virus.

It is also possible that the Oropouche virus can be spread through sexual transmission. A man diagnosed with Oropouche fever this summer still had functional virus in his semen 16 days after the onset of his symptoms, another group of researchers reported in December. Emerging infectious diseases. If the ability to transmit sexually turns out to be true, it would be another feature in common with Zika, which caused a massive outbreak of infections in the Western Hemisphere in 2015 and 2016 (SN: 12/13/17).

Brazil’s massive outbreak, confirmation that the virus can spread in utero and harm the fetus, and the sudden deaths of two women in their twenties who developed Oropouche fever have brought more attention to the poorly understood virus.