The Ministry of Public Health of Cuba (Minsap) assured this Friday that “he is going towards a control” of the dengue and chikungunya epidemic that has already left 55 deadand tens of thousands of cases on the island.
The vice minister of Minsap, Carilda Peña, assured in a press conference that in the last seven weeks they have reported a “decrease in cases with nonspecific febrile syndrome,” the first common symptom of both diseases.
“The forecast is that the end of the year will be a favorable time to be able to say that in certain territories of the country there is no transmission of these diseases,” stressed the Public Health official.
The most recent health report released this Friday by Peña placed the cases of non-specific febrile syndrome at 2,188.
Of those, 372 chikungunya infections were confirmedfor a cumulative of 47,756 cases of this disease.
Peña explained that the Cuban Government does not give daily numbers of dengue patients but rather the incidence rate of suspected cases per week. This is because the Diagnoses are delayed and not enough tests are performed.
High incidence rate
The official acknowledged that the rate reported last week was 15 infected per 100,000 inhabitants.
That translates into about 1,440 new infections out of a total population of 9.6 million people.
Meanwhile, the Pan American Health Organizationwhich collects official Cuban figures, indicated last week that the dengue infections amounted to 25,995 from the beginning of the year until the end of November.
The health authorities have explained on other occasions that the number of cases is an underreporting, because many patients do not go to medical centers, mainly due to the deterioration of public services on the island.
The outbreak of an epidemic in Cuba
The Cuban Government recognized for the first time on November 12 that the country was suffering from an epidemic of chikungunya and dengue, despite the fact that the first cases were diagnosed in July and that infections had skyrocketed in September and October.
Two and a half weeks before recognizing the epidemic, Cuba made an international request for help for the Hurricane Melissa in which it included enormous quantities of chemicals to combat the mosquito, vector of transmission of both arboviruses.
The epidemic has found fertile ground in Cuba to spread due to the country’s serious economic crisis.
The critical situation limits the capacity for prevention (mainly through massive fumigation against mosquitoes), control (with tests to confirm the type of disease), and care for the sick, due to a lack of medicines and other health supplies.
