Brazil has recorded the world’s first two deaths from the Oropouche virus, a tropical viral infection contracted through the bite of certain insects, the Brazilian Health Minister said. The two cases, which occurred in the state of Bahia, in the northeast of the country, involve two women, under the age of 30, who had no previous illnesses, but who showed symptoms similar to severe dengue fever.
The two deaths due to Oropuche fever in the state of Bahia, confirmed by the Brazilian Ministry of Health, are the first recorded in the world. According to a statement released by the Ministry, “until now, the world’s scientific literature had not reported cases of deaths due to this disease,” explains CNN Brazil.
Oropouche fever is a tropical viral infection transmitted by midges and mosquitoes and is named after the region where it was first discovered and isolated in 1955, at the Trinidad Regional Laboratory, near the Oropouche River, Trinidad and Tobago.