The Oropouche virus is the second most common arbovirus disease in South America, surpassed only by dengue fever. The Oropouche virus is present mostly in South America and the Caribbean, but since December 2023 more cases have been reported, totaling over 10,000 cases in 2024, including from areas in the region where it was not previously detected.

On October 30, 2024, The New England Journal of Medicine published an article titled "A Case of Vertical Transmission of Oropouche Virus in Brazil". The OROV, historically linked to limited outbreaks in the Amazon basin, has recently caused infections in new regions due to the OROVBR-2015-2024 clade from genetic reassortment. In June 2024, Ceará, Brazil, confirmed its first case, identifying 171 cases primarily in rural valleys favorable for the biting midge vector Culicoides paraensis.

A notable case involved a 40-year-old pregnant woman who developed fever and other symptoms at 30 weeks of gestation. Despite prenatal care and normal earlier ultrasounds, she experienced stillbirth, with molecular testing confirming OROV infection. Viral RNA was detected in multiple fetal tissues, indicating vertical transmission. Phylogenetic analysis linked the case to the ongoing OROV outbreak.

Maximum-Likelihood Phylogenetic Tree of the Oropouche Virus Sequences

These findings emphasize the risks of OROV infection in pregnancy and the need to consider this infection in pregnant women with fever or other suggestive symptoms who live in or visit regions in which the virus is endemic or emerging.

Click here to read the full article:

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2412812

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