What is the oropouche virus - known as 'sloth fever' - and why is it spreading?

Stock photo. Posed by model. iStock.com/VioletaStoimenova

By Camilla Foster, PA Media

A warning was issued after an increase in reported cases of the oropouche virus in five countries.

An emerging virus dubbed ‘sloth fever’ has caused some alarm, after the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reported that 19 imported cases of the disease have been found in the European Union for the first time - in Spain (12), Italy (5), and Germany (2).

The oropouche virus (OROV), an RNA arbovirus, was first detected in the village of Oropouche in Trinidad and Tobago in 1955.

It’s spread to people primarily through the bite of infected biting midges, according to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Some mosquitoes have also been known to carry the virus.

The Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) first issued an epidemiological alert about an increase in reported cases of the virus in five countries – Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Cuba and Colombia - in July.