Cuban health authorities confirmed the detection of more than 3,000 cases of dengue on the Island during 2022, at a time when, despite a slight increase in cases in recent weeks, the COVID-19 pandemic has been largely under control.
According to Dr. José Ángel Portal Miranda, head of Public Health on the island, until the end of June, seven Cuban provinces had “proven dengue transmission”: Havana, Sancti Spíritus, Camagüey, Las Tunas, Holguín, Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo, in 11 municipalities and 17 health areas.
In addition, 3,036 cases of the disease had been detected, of which serotypes 1, 2 and 3 of this virus transmitted by mosquito bites circulate in the country. Aedes aegypti.
Portal Miranda also recognized that in twelve Cuban provinces an increase in suspected cases of dengue has been verified, and that in the last week the incidence rate of these suspected cases grew by 42% compared to the previous week.
In a press conference with national and foreign media, the minister explained that dengue is endemic on the island and is exacerbated in the rainy season with the proliferation of the mosquito, its transmitting agent.
However, despite the reported increase in infections and people hospitalized for the disease —as well as reports and criticism on the subject on social networks—, he pointed out that the country is not yet going through “the worst moment” and warned about the importance of controlling transmission to avoid a more unfavorable scenario in the coming months.
“The coming months tend to be the most complex and what we do not do now can complicate the country’s epidemiological scenario,” said Portal Miranda, who stressed that “intense work” is required to prevent the epidemiological situation from becoming more complex. .
From COVID-19 to dengue, the complex epidemiological transition
days ago, his own Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) of Cuba had reported that Cuba was registering the highest number of mosquito outbreaks Aedes aegypti of the last 15 years.
Dr. Madelaine Rivera Sánchez, national director of Surveillance and Anti-Vector Control of the MINSAP, then pointed out that in 2022 the growth of the outbreaks of these mosquitoes, responsible for the transmission of dengue, was 21.7% in relation to the same period of the year. last year.
Given this scenario, the head of Public Health specified that Cuban specialists have experience in combating this disease and that the island is working on a strategy to confront dengue, from the care level to the preventive level, but demanded the collaboration of people and the importance of going to the doctor in case of symptoms. “This is a virus that also kills,” he warned.
In this sense, he called for increased preventive and control actions at the community and family level, and to raise the perception of risk in the face of this disease, which, he said, “is essential.”
“We do not have the right to get out of a COVID epidemic and enter a dengue epidemic,” he remarked.
Previously, the minister had assured the press that COVID-19 continues to be “under control” in the country, even though surveillance work is being carried out by authorities and experts given the increase in cases in recent weeks and the possibility of a rebound in the infectious disease, as is happening in other nations.
