The city of Rio de Janeiro confirmed the first record of infection with Oropouche Fever in the capital of Rio de Janeiro. The State Department of Health of Rio de Janeiro (SES-RJ) released the information this Thursday (29).
This is a 42-year-old man, resident of the Humaitá neighborhood, in the south of the city. According to the secretariat, he recently traveled to Amazonas, a state that registered an increase in cases and issued an epidemiological alert for the disease.
What is Oropouche Fever?
Oropouche Fever is an infectious disease caused by an arbovirus of the same name, transmitted by mosquitoes. Although, like dengue, the infection is caused by mosquito bites, the vectors of Oropouche are different, Culicoides paraensis and Culex quinquefasciatus, popularly known as maruim.
The disease presents symptoms similar to dengue, which normally last between two and seven days, such as fever, intense headache, body aches, nausea, vomiting, pain behind the eyes, dizziness and cough.
Confirmed case of Oropouche Fever in Rio de Janeiro
Confirmation of the case came after a laboratory diagnosis was carried out by the Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases (INI), of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz). Despite the confirmation, SES-RJ considers the record as “imported”, as the patient recently traveled to Amazonas, and there is still no evidence of local transmission, that is, among residents of the state of Rio de Janeiro.
Pay attention to the symptoms of the disease
Claudia Mello, Secretary of State for Health, alerts the population to the symptoms of Oropouche Fever, similar to those of dengue. She highlights the importance of informing about recent trips to the North of Brazil during medical appointments. This measure helps in the accurate and rapid diagnosis of the disease, especially at a time when Amazonas is registering an increase in the number of cases.
With the confirmation of the case, the health surveillance team in the city of Rio de Janeiro keeps the epidemiological investigation of the patient under control. They seek to understand the trajectory of the infection and prevent possible future cases of the disease.
