Oropouche orthobunyavirus | |
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Virus classification | |
(unranked): | Virus |
Realm: | Riboviria |
Kingdom: | Orthornavirae |
Phylum: | Negarnaviricota |
Class: | Ellioviricetes |
Order: | Bunyavirales |
Family: | Peribunyaviridae |
Genus: | Orthobunyavirus |
Species: | Oropouche orthobunyavirus
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Oropouche orthobunyavirus (OROV) is one of the most common orthobunyaviruses. When OROV infects humans, it causes a rapid fever illness called Oropouche fever. OROV was originally reported in Trinidad and Tobago in 1955 from the blood sample of a fever patient and from a pool of Coquillettidia venezuelensis mosquitoes.[1] In 1960, OROV was isolated from a sloth (Bradypus tridactylus) and a pool of Ochlerotatus serratus mosquitoes in Brazil.[2] The virus is considered a public health threat in tropical and subtropical areas of Central and South America, with over half a million infected people as of 2005.[3] OROV is considered to be an arbovirus due to the method of transmission by the mosquitoes Aedes serratus and Culex quinquefasciatus among sloths, marsupials, primates, and birds.