Data released on Tuesday (14) by the Ministry of Health show that cases of Oropouche fever are spreading throughout Brazil. The country currently has 5,102 cases of the disease, 2,947 in Amazonas and 1,528 in Rondônia.

The remaining cases have been registered or are under investigation in Bahia, Acre, Espírito Santo, Pará, Rio de Janeiro, Piauí, Roraima, Santa Catarina, Amapa, Maranhão and Paraná. Data updated until March 15.

What mosquito transmits Oropouche fever?

“For a few weeks now, it has been spreading to other regions in Brazil. We are not only in this concentration in the northern region, which was at the first moment. “We thought it would be a focus, but we saw that there was a spread,” warns the Minister of Health and Environmental Control of Ministry of Health, Ethel Maciel.

“We have introduced surveillance for this new disease, and established guidelines for clinical surveillance. We did not have any evidence or protocol for Oropouche fever. We are distributing tests to the entire Lacen network [laboratórios centrais] Thus, we are able to catch and make the correct diagnosis of this disease. “We are monitoring closely and understanding this new virus better,” he explains.

a Most cases of Oropouche fever in the country have been diagnosed in people between the ages of 20 and 29 years. The other age groups most affected by the disease are from 30 to 39 years, from 40 to 49 years, and from 10 to 19 years.