First case of Oropouche fever detected in the international border region of the Colombian Amazon: clinical characteristics and molecular diagnosis

Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz. 2024 May 13:119:e230221. doi: 10.1590/0074-02760230221. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Objectives: We report the first case of Oropouche fever detected in the border region of Colombia.

Methods: Using a multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), genetic sequencing and clinical characteristics during the dengue epidemic in 2019, a total of 175 samples were analysed, from cases notified to the system epidemiological surveillance such as dengue.

Findings: The Oropouche virus (OROV) isolate from Leticia belongs to lineage 2 according to both M and S genome segments maximum likelihood (ML) analysis, shares a common ancestor with samples obtained in Esmeraldas, Ecuador and Turbaco, Colombia. The patient: a woman resident in the border neighbourhood of the municipality of Leticia had the following symptoms: fever, headache, retro-orbital pain and myalgias.

Main conclusion: This cross-border surveillance can be useful to give an alert about the entry or exit of arboviruses circulation in the region, which are often underreported in public health surveillance systems.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Bunyaviridae Infections / diagnosis
  • Bunyaviridae Infections / epidemiology
  • Bunyaviridae Infections / virology
  • Colombia / epidemiology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Orthobunyavirus* / genetics
  • Orthobunyavirus* / isolation & purification
  • Phylogeny
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction