General risk statement
Following the recent surge in the detection of Oropoch virus infection (OROV) cases in some countries in the Americas region, the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) announced on February 2, 2024, Considering the alerts issued by the Month (1) introduces rapid risk assessments (RRAs) for local public health.
This RRA takes into account the potential risks to human health (clinico-epidemiological behavior of the disease, severity indicators, risk factors, and more detailed determinants at country level), the risk of spread, and the The aim is to assess the current regional risks. prevention and control capabilities (including vector activity, geographic spread across borders) and available resources (including response support capabilities, surveillance capabilities, diagnostic techniques, and the readiness of health services and supplies). Risk of being enough.
Since OROV was first identified in Trinidad and Tobago in 1955, cases and outbreaks of OROV have been confirmed in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. Reported outbreaks have primarily occurred in the Amazon Basin region. These are associated with the presence of the midge vector Culicoides paraensis (C. paraensis) ( 1 , 2 ), which is maintained in a sylvate cycle that includes reservoir hosts such as sloths and nonhuman primates. Given that its clinical symptoms are similar to other arboviral infections, the lack of systematic surveillance of cases, and the lack of widespread laboratory diagnosis, this disease in countries of the region is the true burden may have been underestimated. Outbreaks are generally identified by retrospective population-based epidemiological studies or laboratory epidemiological studies.
Several factors contribute to the increased risk of vector C. paraensis spread. These include climate change, which causes increased rainfall and higher temperatures; Deforestation due to the expansion of the agricultural frontier in the affected areas of the Amazon basin region. Progress of urbanization. Among others, human activities that create an environment that facilitates the spread of vectors and vector-host interactions, and the resulting potential for increased OROV infections. The same factors significantly impact reservoir host habitat, forcing vectors to migrate to urban and peri-urban areas where they proliferate.
Weak health systems amidst political and financial instability in countries facing complex humanitarian crises and intense population movements are also determining factors to consider in the face of increased risk of disease spread. .
Although scientific evidence and data to monitor this event are currently limited, outbreaks that have occurred over the past decade have allowed for a partial characterization of the clinico-epidemiological behavior of OROV disease, and its scale and It became possible to estimate the severity. . In terms of documented severity, most cases present with mild to moderate symptoms. It is self-limiting (recovery within 7 days), and although rare complications such as aseptic meningitis may occur, there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission. No associated deaths were reported (3).
Based on the criteria defined for this assessment, the overall risk at the level of the Americas region is classified as 'moderate' and confidence in the available information is 'moderate'.
