The State Department of Health (SES) and the Municipal Health Department (SMS) of Botuverá received laboratory confirmation of three cases of Oropouche Fever in the municipality, located in the Médio Vale do Itajaí. The tests were sent by SMS to a private laboratory that detected the presence of the virus in the samples, on April 25th.
The cases presented symptoms between April 10th and 15th, with a picture similar to dengue infection. After collecting samples that proved not to be dengue, samples were sent for diagnosis of oropouche. The people are between 18 and 40 years old and have no history of moving outside the State.
The SES, together with SMS from Botuverá, monitor the situation, checking the feasibility of validating the diagnosis of cases by the national reference public health laboratory, considering that this is the guidance of the Ministry of Health in these situations.
Furthermore, the State and municipality have already started the epidemiological investigation and will develop a series of complementary actions on site, such as systematizing information on suspected and confirmed cases (movements, symptoms, clinical picture, etc.), collecting vectors for entomological surveys and forwarding samples from other patients for testing by the Santa Catarina Central Public Health Laboratory, with the aim of strengthening disease surveillance.
Oropouche fever
According to the Ministry of Health, Oropouche Fever (FO) is a disease caused by an arbovirus. Oropouche Fever is transmitted mainly by mosquitoes, the main one being Culicoides paraensis, known as maruim or sandfly, although other vectors have been involved in transmission such as Culex quinquefasciatus.
The symptoms of Oropouche Fever are similar to those of dengue and chikungunya: headache, muscle pain, joint pain, nausea and diarrhea. There is no specific treatment. Patients must remain at rest, with symptomatic treatment and monitoring by the municipal health network.
Check out the speech by DIVE/SC director, João Augusto Brancher Fuck, about the case:
