GAINESVILLE, Fla. – After “Sloth Fever” began spreading into Central Florida last year, experts with the University of Florida say they’ve managed a huge breakthrough in their research.
CDC data shows that there were over 100 travel-related cases of this dangerous disease spotted in Florida throughout 2024. That number fell to only one case this year.
But just last week, UF/IFAS researchers shared their new findings about the virus with News 6.
WHAT IS SLOTH FEVER?
The Oropouche virus, also known as “Sloth Fever,” was first identified in 1955 in Trinidad and Tobago, and the virus is currently endemic to the Amazon region.
The virus can induce a whole array of symptoms, including fever, chills, headaches, muscle and joint aches, and even a bumpy rash. It can also cause a variety of birth defects if a pregnant woman is infected.
However, the CDC reported that outbreaks of the virus began to pop up in late 2023 in South America and the Caribbean.
[BELOW: Sloth fever found in Florida as the latest mosquito-borne illness]
Health officials explained that the virus is spread to humans via infected biting midges (a.k.a. “no-see-ums”) and some mosquito species. As a result, some travelers to affected areas like Cuba and Brazil were identified as carrying the virus upon their return home.
The virus got its moniker because scientists who investigated the virus reportedly found it in a three-toed sloth, leading them to believe sloths played a vital role in spreading the virus between insects and other animals.
WHAT ARE THE NEW FINDINGS?
In a release, UF/IFAS officials said they discovered that two types of disease-spreading mosquitoes in the Southeastern U.S. are actually quite poor spreaders of the disease.
This means that even if someone arrives in Florida already infected with Sloth Fever, then even if that person is bitten by a mosquito, the virus isn’t likely to spread to the next person bitten, according to Associate Prof. Barry Alto at the UF/IFAS.
“Because the species of no-see-um that transmits Oropouche virus had never been found in Cuba, researchers suspected that mosquitoes were transmitting the virus from person to person,” the release reads. “If so, the virus would be much more likely to establish in Florida and elsewhere in the U.S.”
[BELOW: Health officials investigate disease ‘outbreak’ possibly linked to Ocoee gym, law firm says]
And with that initial threat of spread now being ruled out, researchers are set to look into whether Florida’s no-see-ums can spread the virus next, a UF/IFAS official told News 6.
In the meantime, the release shows that this recent research breakthrough was a result of a grant from the CDC, and it was published last week in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.