Madrid/The data on the arbovirus epidemic that Cuba has suffered in recent months alarms health authorities, who this Monday warned of an increase in chikungunya infections of 23.2% compared to the previous week. Carilda Peña García, Vice Minister of Public Health, said that at the end of last year, 7,700 new cases of this disease were registered and although she did not provide specific numbers of dengue, she also confirmed an increase in the incidence rate.
In total, the country has 39,760 people with “non-specific febrile syndrome”, 15.8% less than the previous week. The official was optimistic from now on, since, she stated, “historically, November is the most complex month for arboviruses, with dengue hyperendemicity.” These data led him to trust in an improvement for the first or second week of December, also in the case of chikungunya, transmitted by the same mosquito.
At the moment, with 156 patients in intensive care – 96 more than the previous week – there is little joy. The vice minister acknowledged that the situation “is considered dangerous” because there are many serious and critical cases. Of the latter, precisely, 34 (of the total of 35) are under 18 years of age. As for serious cases, the figure rises to 121, 96 of them minors.
There are 35 critics, 34 of them under 18 years of age. As for serious cases, the number rises to 121, 96 of them minors.
Peña García explained that he is aware that there is under-registration because many people do not go to medical centers. However, he added that all suspects are counted, even if they have not been diagnosed in laboratories, a common situation when epidemic circumstances occur. This Monday, of the 7,700 cases, 137 were confirmed with PCR, a test reserved for identifying and characterizing serious cases or the beginnings of outbreaks.
Regarding dengue, transmission is widespread, as it is still present in 14 provinces – Sancti Spíritus, Villa Clara, Havana, Guantánamo, Ciego de Ávila and Santiago de Cuba in the lead – and the incidence rate has risen to 22.6%. In the documentation of the World Health Organization (WHO), the figures have not yet been updated, so the population does not know how many infections there are. At the end of last week, three deaths and 9,602 infections had been recorded, for a high rate of 87.79 per 100,000.
Although Peña García insisted on the importance of going to the doctor, especially in vulnerable population groups, the cases that escape official accounting promise enormous magnitudes. “All of us who don’t go to the doctor and cure ourselves at home are not in this number. Do a survey block by block so you can see how many we have,” indicated a reader of Cubadebate to the news. Another user asked the authorities to be more specific about the cases of deaths that are spread on social networks.
“Could you clarify if there have been deaths from this cause and the number if positive? There are any number of comments on the street, about full hospitals and funeral homes, an increase in the virus for several weeks and not a single death? Something is not clear and I do not believe that any death is a crime or the fault of the Ministry of Health, as happens anywhere on the planet with similar situations. Thank you. We await a response,” he asked. The only deaths known to date directly associated with dengue are three, announced in October. Since then, rumors have spread like wildfire.
The authorities affirm that the procedure has not been generalized because there are “limitations of fuel and insecticides, but strata of apples with more active transmission were prioritized.”
The vice minister explained that the infestation of Aedes aegypti It is considered high, with 8,545 outbreaks. The municipalities with the worst indicators are Camagüey, Pinar del Río, Sancti Spíritus and Havana. In the latter, as in Santiago de Cuba and Granma, the fumigation objectives are met, another highly questioned fact on networks, where hundreds of voices claim that no action is being taken. The authorities affirm that the procedure has not been generalized because there are “limitations of fuel and insecticides, but strata of apples with more active transmission were prioritized to reduce the vector population and cut the chain of transmission.”
The situation has led the Dominican Republic to take measures, which announced this Monday the intensification of epidemiological surveillance and vector control actions throughout the national territory, “as part of the permanent strategy of prevention and response to the chikungunya outbreak reported in Cuba and other Caribbean countries.”
The country’s Ministry of Health said that there will be intensive days of fumigation, scrap removal and community education, in addition to active search for feverish patients and surveillance at airports, ports and border crossings. The minister asked the public for collaboration, especially by keeping the patios clean and eliminating water tanks that favor the appearance of mosquito breeding sites.
