[00:00.00]American health officials have identified a virus spread by insects in more than 20 people who visited Cuba.
[00:10.88]The virus is officially called Oropouche. It is also known as sloth fever.
[00:20.14]The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said August 27 it had received reports of 21 cases in the United States.
[00:36.06]All of the cases - 20 in Florida and one in New York - involved people who had traveled to Cuba.
[00:45.29]European health officials said they had identified 19 cases of the virus, nearly all of them in travelers.
[00:56.48]The CDC explains that Oropouche is usually spread through the bites of small flies called midges, as well as mosquitoes.
[01:09.73]Signs, or symptoms, of the sickness usually start three to 10 days after an insect bite.
[01:18.86]They can include headache, high temperature, joint stiffness, stomach problems and sensitivity to light.
[01:29.62]The CDC says most virus cases last from three to six days and people generally recover without any long-term effects.
[01:43.11]There is currently no specific treatment or vaccine for the sickness.
[01:50.21]The Oropouche virus is native to forested tropical areas.
[01:56.92]It was first identified in 1955 in the Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago.
[02:07.60]The virus was named after a nearby village and water system.
[02:13.80]The sickness is sometimes called sloth fever because scientists investigating the virus found it in a three-toed sloth.
[02:26.11]Researchers believed the sloths were important in spreading the virus between insects and animals.
[02:35.78]The virus is spread to humans by small biting flies called midges, and by some kinds of mosquitoes.
[02:45.98]Humans have become infected while visiting forested areas and are believed to be responsible for helping the virus make its way to towns and cities.
[03:00.15]So far, person-to-person transmission, or spread, has not been documented.
[03:07.84]The virus has recently caused large outbreaks in Amazon areas where it was known to exist.
[03:16.88]It has also been found in new areas of South America and the Caribbean.
[03:24.15]About 8,000 local infections have been reported in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, and Peru.
[03:35.52]Most patients returning from Cuba reported their symptoms between May and July.
[03:44.84]Three of the patients were hospitalized, with no deaths reported, the CDC said in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
[03:57.45]Symptoms can seem similar to other tropical diseases like dengue, Zika or malaria.
[04:07.23]The most common ones include fever, headaches and muscle pains.
[04:13.63]Some infected people also suffer from diarrhea, unsettled stomach, vomiting or skin reactions.
[04:24.27]Some patients can suffer symptoms repeatedly.
[04:28.92]And one in 20 people may experience more severe symptoms like bleeding, meningitis and encephalitis.
[04:39.54]The virus rarely causes death, although there were recent reports of deaths in two healthy young people in Brazil.
[04:50.48]There are no vaccines to prevent infections and no medicines are currently available to treat the symptoms.
[05:01.13]In Brazil, officials are investigating reports that infections might be passed on from pregnant women to their unborn babies.
[05:12.05]This kind of spread was documented during Zika outbreaks nearly 10 years ago.
[05:19.94]The CDC has issued guidance that pregnant women should avoid non-necessary travel to Cuba.
[05:30.04]The agency also suggested that all travelers take steps to prevent insect bites, such as using insect repellents and wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants.
[05:46.24]I'm Bryan Lynn.
______________________________
Words in This Story
stiff - adj. hard and difficult to move
specific - adj. exact or containing details
tropical - adj. from or in the hottest parts of the world
fever - n. a high body temperature caused by sickness
diarrhea - n. a sickness in which a person's solid waste is more liquid than usual and comes out of the body more often
vomit - v. to have the food, liquid, etc., that is in your stomach come out through your mouth because you are sick
repellent - n. a substance used to keep insects away
/1 
鄂公网安备42010202000179号 )