Generalized poor nutrition affects the population’s immune system, making recovery difficult.
VILLA CLARA.-Although for more than a month residents of several municipalities of Villa Clara have been warning on social networks about the increase in arboviruses, local media They only recognized the situation two weeks ago, referring to a “complex epidemiological panorama” marked by dengue, Oropouche and “other diseases derived from vector bites”, with a worrying incidence in almost the entire province.
“In this block there is not a single family without someone who has had this virus that is going around,” Yasiris Medina, a resident of the Camacho neighborhood in Santa Clara, tells CubaNet, one of the most affected according to its own inhabitants, although there is no public data on the investigations by areas of highest incidence.
To date, Cuba registers 20,062 cases of chikungunya. Havana, Matanzas, Camagüey, Cienfuegos, Artemisa and Villa Clara are among the provinces with the highest reports. However, the official numbers are below reality: many patients avoid going to the hospital as long as their symptoms allow. “The doctors give you antipyretics, they tell you not to take ibuprofen and to drink a lot of liquids, like broth or gelatin,” says Yasiris. “But they don’t take into account that a blister of paracetamol costs more than 300 pesos and a package of chicken thighs costs more than 2,000.”
The Provincial Health Directorate assure on social networks that fumigations are prioritized in the highest risk blocks. However, dozens of users question that version. “They have not happened here even once,” wrote Amaya García, a resident of the Vigía area, who claims that her street is “full of chikungunya cases.” Another resident, Valery León, comments that “all the blocks are full of sick people, entire houses, and no screening, no fumigation, no anything.”
“This makes you so lazy that you can’t even walk,” describes Nayeli, another resident of the Camacho neighborhood. “So, convalescent, I had to take care of my father who became very ill, and I even had to buy the branules to hydrate him at the grocery store. I haven’t been able to work for fifteen days.”
The patients consulted describe intense pain, weakness, chills, tremors and fevers above 39 degrees. In some homes, reinfections with other arboviruses have been recorded in a short time, favored by prolonged blackouts. The term chikungunya itself refers to the hunching that the disease causes due to joint pain.
“Several viruses are circulating in the territory at the same time. The most worrying thing is that chikungunya is causing severe inflammation in the joints,” he explained to the station. CMHW Neil Reyes Miranda, director of the Provincial Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology. The newspaper Vanguard He added that the virus can go through acute, subacute and chronic phases, and that the latter can last 90 days or more.
Dr. Perla María Trujillo Pedroza, from the Manuel Piti Fajardo Polyclinic in Santo Domingo, expressed her concern on Facebook about the high number of patients in the subacute phase. “We Cuban doctors are improvising as we go,” he wrote. “Why is there no talk in any official media about the implications of evolving into chronicity? This is a very symptomatic disease, which causes violent polyarthritis, with disabling pain and stiffness. It is urgent that we get our act together and give this health problem the importance it deserves.”
In another publication, the specialist pointed out that widespread poor nutrition affects the population’s immune system, making recovery difficult. He added that many patients cannot rest because they must look for food, medications and rehydration salts, almost always at prohibitive prices in the informal market due to their total absence in pharmacies.
