In 2024, “sloth fever” hit the news cycle as a new public health threat: The virus was found in people who’d recently traveled to Cuba, and the serious health risks associated with the disease prompted concern about whether it could spread and become established in the U.S.

Sloth fever is the popularized name of the illness caused by the Oropouche virus, which is endemic to countries like Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba and Peru, and it is primarily spread from person to person by a species of no-see-um. In 2024, about 105 travel-related cases of Oropouche virus infection were spotted in the U.S. – about 103 of which arrived in Florida, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The infected people had recently traveled to Cuba. 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. If so, the virus would be much more likely to establish in Florida and elsewhere in the U.S.

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