British tourists have been given an urgent warning about a deadly virus that’s sweeping across Spain.
Sloth fever, or Oropouche virus as it’s also known, was an obscure disease largely contained within the Amazon basin in South America.
But during the first seven months of 2024, more than 8,000 cases of the disease were reported globally – including across Europe.
The illness, which currently has no known cure, has now seen three cases identified in the Canary Islands.
The infected include a 36-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman from Tenerife, as well as a 52-year-old man from Gran Canaria, all testing positive for the disease.
The Canary Islands Directorate General of Public Health confirmed the three new cases of the virus which is believed to have been brought to the area from Cuba after three people began exhibiting symptoms consistent with it after returning from the Caribbean Island.
Health officials report that each affected individual suffered from fever, diarrhoea, and joint pain. Three more individuals are still awaiting test results, according to island authorities.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has now raised the alarm after the illness infected at least 19 Europeans, including in Spain and Germany, in the last couple of months.
Dr Philip Veal, Travel Health Consultant at UKHSA, said that the illness is carried by insects and there’s no sign the disease spreading from person to person.
He said: “The midge that carries Oropouche virus is not currently established in Europe. It is typically found in the Americas. There is no evidence the virus can spread from person to person,” reports The Mirror.
Dr Veal advised those visiting affected regions to take precautions against insect bites to prevent this infection and others such as Zika and Malaria.
The expert also suggested using insect repellent, covering exposed skin, and sleeping under a treated bed net.
The virus is named after the village in which it was first found in Trinidad and Tobago in 1955.
Since then, the virus has been responsible for sporadic outbreaks across the Brazilian Amazon.
Estimates suggest that there have been around 500,000 cases since it was discovered but accurate reporting is difficult due to lack of medical facilities and ease with which it can be misdiagnosed.
