MADRID, Spain. – Santiago de Cuba poses the worst panorama regarding the dengue fever crisis that the entire country is facing.
In that province, we detected on average vector breeding sites in one out of every 120 residences, for a total of 3,266, which makes the risk of becoming sick very high, at a rate of 65.2 for every 100,000 inhabitants last week, according to what Alfredo Cintra Guerra, supervisor of vector watch and control, said to the local news medium Sierra Maestra.
Cintra Guerra also indicated that today, “the average number of medical interventions for presumed dengue fever symptoms is 297.”
“It is still worrisome the number of patients that go to the doctor with signs of alarm, due to the presence of the four serotypes of the dengue fever virus,” he added.
According to the information, the areas affected most are Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba, Contramaestre, Mella and Songo-La Maya, “which doesn’t mean that there aren’t cases of the illness in other municipalities.”
As Dr. Roberto Serrano Delis, a physician in Songo-La Maya explained recently to CubaNet, the epidemiological situation is at its most critical point. In fact, he confessed to being “shocked by the number of individuals suffering from serious dengue fever, especially because of the severity of the clinical picture and the speed at which the virus is performing.”
“While it is true that dengue fever is one of the main causes of death in Latin America, serious cases are rarely so frequent. It is often said that around 80% of patients show mild symptoms of the disease and recover satisfactorily. Which is why for me, what is happening now in Cuba is out of the ordinary,” the physician added.
The Sierra Maestra newspaper called for taking extreme measures to control the mosquito, which is the most efficient way to prevent viral infection and stop the epidemic.
“It’s all about destroying the breeding sites in homes and work centers alike through personal intervention by family members and workers…, which must be systematic and taken very seriously.”
However, the shortage of fumigators and of fuel, as well as unsanitary conditions conspire against eliminating mosquito breeding sites.
According to the experts, 2022 will go down as the year more mosquito breeding sites were registered in the last 15 years.
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