Sloth fever or Oropouche virus is spreading in the United States, with 30 cases in all, and at least three cases of hospitalization in the country. West Nile fever is also on the rise in United States, and recently top US infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci became infected with it. A range of vector-borne illnesses is witnessing an uptick in the United States and some of the symptoms could overlap with each other. Let's understand the difference between the symptoms of Oropouche fever and West Nile fever in this article.
What is sloth or oropouche fever?A zoonotic disease transmitted from animals to humans, sloth fever got its name because scientists felt sloths were important in the disease's spread between insects and animals. The virus is transmitted between mosquitoes and vertebrate animals like sloths, primates, rodents and wild birds, as per CDC. The bites of infected midgets and certain mosquitoes can transmit the virus from one person to the other.
