SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico.- The national director of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP), Francisco Durán, Indian that the virus of Oropouche It had started in Santiago de Cuba and Cienfuegos (in May), but quickly spread to Matanzas, Mayabeque, Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Ávila, Holguín, Guantánamo, Artemisa, Camagüey and Granma and later to Pinar del Río.
According to the country’s health authorities, the virus Oropouche, transmitted primarily by mosquitoes, causes symptoms such as fever, headache, myalgia (muscle aches), and in some cases, can lead to more severe complications.
Several Cubans interviewed by CubaNet They said that going through the disease without access to medication was difficult.
Amid a severe shortage of medicines and resources in Cuban hospitals, sick people must access medicines on the black market where prices are too high.
Cure with what
“They say that a blister pack of pills costs 500 pesos, it costs 600 pesos and I can’t do anything, what can I cure myself with?” said a Cuban.
Many went through their illness without medical assistance and put up with the symptoms: “Well, I had diarrhea, a bad headache and I was sick for four to five days, the only thing that left me a little weak,” said one woman.
“Headache, fever, from 39 to 40, from 39 to 40, I can’t take it anymore,” said a sick Cuban.
The joint pain, fever, vomiting and diarrhea had to be contained at home and as best they could.
According to a Cuban woman, cases can get worse and people’s lives are put at risk: “My blood pressure went up, I felt weak, and I also had palpitations.”
Wait at home
The doctors told them to heal at home because “everyone heals at home, those who have cancer and those who don’t have cancer.”
“When I went to the hospital there was no medicine, there was nothing, they told me I had to pick and drink grape tea. And the pills they are selling here in Cuba are expensive,” said one person.
Another interviewee agreed that doctors, both in hospitals and in clinics, send patients home. “The doctor tells you that you have to drink plenty of fluids because he has nothing else to prescribe for the illness, that is why they do not admit anyone.”
An epidemic in Cuba
The disease continues to spread throughout Cuba. A total of 76 people are hospitalized in Camagüey with Oropouche fever, according to authorities.
In total, there are 79 suspected cases of the disease in the province, He told the local newspaper Forward Dr. Néstor Navarro Vega, Deputy Director of Epidemiology at the Provincial Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology and Microbiology.
Admission, “as with other arboviruses, can be in a hospital or at home,” said the doctor, who said that the situation is complex since dengue fever also circulates in the province.
“Everything is complicated by the impact of factors such as high temperatures that shorten the cycle of the Aedes aegypti, as well as by the rains and the environmental situation, since as is known, the Culex quinquefasciatus enters and leaves the home and can only be mitigated with environmental management,” lamented the doctor.
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