The Pan American Health Organization has issued an epidemiological alert as Latin America experiences a rise in cases of the Oropouche virus, a little-known disease spread by midges and mosquitoes.

The alert came Friday after the PAHO, which is the main international health agency for the Americas, reported the first deaths associated with the virus — including fetal deaths associated with “possible instances of vertical transmission,” in which a virus is transmitted mother-to-child during…