Warning for British holidaymakers as deadly sloth fever infects three more people in popular European hotspot
Three cases of ‘sloth fever’ have been identified in the popular European holiday destination, the Canary Islands.
Health officials in the Spanish archipelago, located just 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the African coastline, confirmed cases of the oropouche virus, related to dengue and Zika viruses, in three people who had traveled from Cuba.
It involved a 36-year-old man, a 32-year-old woman from Tenerife and a 52-year-old man from Gran Canaria.
The trio reportedly experienced symptoms including fever, diarrhea and joint pain before lab results confirmed they had the oropouche virus.
While all three cases responded well to treatment and did not require hospitalization, authorities said three more cases on the Spanish islands were still awaiting tests.
Health officials in the Spanish archipelago, located just 60 miles (100 km) from the African coastline, confirmed cases of the Oropouche virus, related to dengue and Zika viruses, in three people who had traveled from Cuba. Pictured: Tenerife
The new cases in the Canary Islands, a short distance from London, are the latest in a series that have hit the European region in recent months.
According to the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC), at least 19 cases have been reported in Europe in the past two months, not including the most recent cases.
Twelve were reported in Spain, five in Italy and two in Germany.
Although oropouche is nicknamed “sloth fever,” it is not spread directly by the animals themselves.
Instead, the disease is transmitted by small, flying, biting insects, such as mosquitoes, which can transmit the disease from sloths to other animals, including humans.
According to the NHS Travax website, symptoms of oropouche usually begin four to eight days after the bite. In severe cases, the disease can progress to meningitis.
Although potentially deadly, the ECDC said fatal outcomes are extremely rare and recovery from the disease is common. In most cases, symptoms disappear within four days.
Outbreaks of the virus have been reported so far in several countries in South America, Central America and the Caribbean.
In 2024, specific outbreaks have been recorded in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and more recently in Cuba, where the recent cases of the virus in the Canary Islands originated.
Eighteen of the cases recorded in Europe reported having recently traveled to Cuba and one case in Italy had traveled to Brazil.
According to a report in the LancetOn July 25, two deaths from oropouche were reported for the first time in Brazil. They were two young women who had no other underlying health conditions.
While the number of cases in Europe remains low, more than 8,000 cases have been recorded in Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Cuba between January and mid-July this year.
Due to these high numbers, the ECDC has indicated that the risk of infection for EU citizens travelling to or staying in epidemic areas is currently assessed as moderate.
The European authority advises travellers to the affected areas to wear insect repellent and long-sleeved shirts and long trousers to reduce the risk of bites.
Experts say the virus is unlikely to spread in countries with cooler climates, such as Britain, but it could pose a problem for people travelling abroad who could become ill upon returning to the UK.
There is no vaccine for the disease, which originated in white-throated sloths, non-human primates and birds
The pattern of spots on the insect’s wings is a characteristic feature of mosquitoes and midges that carry the ‘sloth virus’. Photo: Ceratopogonidae Collection of IOC/Fiocruzi
Experts warn that the spread of the disease could become “unstoppable” due to the lack of vaccines.
The US has also been hit by a series of cases, with a total of 21 Americans diagnosed with the oropouche virus in recent weeks.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, like the European cases, the disease was diagnosed in the patients after they returned from Cuba.
Twenty of the cases were in Florida and one in New York. The most common symptoms were fever, muscle aches, headache, fatigue and stiffness.
Three patients were hospitalized, but there were no deaths.
The strain responsible for the recent outbreak was first detected in the small village of Oropouche, Trinidad and Tobago, in 1955.
Five years later, during the construction of the Belem-Brasilia highway, a sloth was tested carrying Oropouche.
Within a year, people in the area became sick with the virus and since then there have been about 30 outbreaks, all concentrated in the Amazon.
It is unclear which insects spread the virus in the jungle, where it circulates between sloths, birds and primates. But in an urban environment, mosquitoes and midges spread the disease to people.
But deforestation and increasing urbanization are increasingly pushing out host animals such as sloths, causing mosquitoes and midges to target humans rather than wildlife.
Rising temperatures due to climate change are also causing mosquitoes to fly further away, while increased rainfall and flooding are creating the ideal breeding ground for these biting insects.
