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Jorge Luis, a 55-year-old Cuban educator, is one of 74 people on the island with first-hand knowledge of the situation. Oropus virusThe disease, which was unknown to many until recently, is the focus of outbreaks in five Latin American countries and territories. Costa Rica is already investigating its first suspected case.
The virus that Jorge Luis faced, and which still frustrates him today, is spread through the bites of two insects: Culicoides (also called midge, purruja or “sand mosquito”) and Five-sided mosquito.
Jorge Luis (who asked that his image and last name be withheld) wanted to share his testimony about the disease to raise awareness and share his experience with others.
The interviews and the methods of obtaining them were not traditional. A reporter from nation Share via Mastodon social network Notes on the diseaseJorge Luis and another compatriot saw this and responded to the article, telling how common the disease is in their country and how they and their families are experiencing it.
Jorge Luis has agreed to answer questions and cross-cutting questions via email. This is your story.
Oropouche infection
The disease is spread through the bites of infected insects. Jorge Luis lives in an area very close to the countryside.
“Unfortunately, the area where I live is plagued by different types of mosquitoes. This means that I get bitten numerous times a day. I must have been infected by one of them,” he said.
Symptoms don’t appear right away. The incubation period can take anywhere from three to 12 days, but most often it’s four to eight days. The educator was running errands far from home in early July when he began to feel ill.
“The first symptoms appeared when I visited my country’s capital, far from my community, and I was there for only three or four days. There were no mosquitoes there. It was a very different environment,” he recalled.
At first, he didn’t take it too seriously. The first signs weren’t alarming: loss of appetite, aversion to food, and some weakness.
“I blamed it on the ice cream I ate because I was greedy,” he said.
Symptoms set in within hours. He felt nauseous (although he never vomited), then had a small amount of watery diarrhea, but no odor. He returned home that day. After that, he said, he had “four episodes of diarrhea in two days.”
Diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting are less common symptoms among the Oropouche but are listed as possible clinical manifestations.
On the fourth day, he began to have fevers every five hours, but they were not high and he managed to control them with paracetamol. Each fever was accompanied by lethargy, chills and irritability. He said he felt nervous.
He also had headaches but not as severe as others described.
About a week later, an attack began, which did not stop.
“I had these things like little pimples on my skin, bigger than a rash, and not so many of them,” he said.
However, Jorge Luis stressed that the vector continues to bite him, so this could also be an incident related to other bites. However, these types of outbreaks are symptoms described by some Oropouche patients.
At night he sleeps with a mosquito net on, but when he wakes up he no longer has that protection.
At the end of the month, the decline continued and he felt very weak.
“I then recovered, but just four days ago, I felt weak again, had cold sweats and had a feeling similar to hypoglycemia. The illness made me lose weight, look pale and a little nervous,” he said.
This “second stage symptom” was not as intense, and he did not have a fever.
“It was as if the virus hid and took advantage of me doing some work or manual labor, no matter how little. I sat in a relaxing and cool place and managed to relieve everything, but the virus was still heavy,” he added.
No matter how much you continue to be exposed to the medium, this is unlikely to be a second infection. To date, reinfection with this virus has not been counted in scientific literature, but in any case, vigilance is necessary.
“There is nothing doctors can do because of the situation in the country”
Jorge Luis stressed that from the moment he developed symptoms and when they told him the news, the doctors were kind and caring, and they also visited his home and neighbors, but “there was nothing they could do due to the current situation” in the country.
“They recommended rest, drink plenty of water, take vitamin therapy (i.e. take vitamins), eat, and if things get worse, go to the nearest medical facility immediately,” he said.
He did know that the most serious cases were treated at health centers and given serum, but that was not his case.
He was unable to take the recommended vitamins because they were not sold in his country. He assured that those who had them did so because they had relatives outside who obtained them.
Even though he doesn’t feel 100% yet, he does stress that he’s making progress every day. Still, he’s sharing his story so others can learn about the disease and not panic, but do what they can to prevent it.
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