The Cuban Ministry of Public Health (Minsap) stated this Friday that it still does not have the arbovirus epidemic on the island under control, among which the cases of chikungunya and dengue stand out.
“It cannot yet be said that there is control because that is not the case,” said Vice Minister of Public Health Carilda Peña, in statements to television when explaining the fight against the mosquito, the main vector of transmission of both diseases.
He commented that the cumulative number of people with “nonspecific febrile syndrome”, the first common warning symptom of both arboviruses, is 43,911, of which 37,197 have subsequently been diagnosed with chikungunya.
In addition, he explained that the majority of the new infections detected the previous day correspond to chikungunya with 826.
The doctor added that currently 25 of the 107 patients in intensive care due to complications associated with these diseases are minors.
The Minsap is defining the cases mainly by their symptoms, without carrying out massive tests that clinically confirm the presence of the disease, as explained by the health authorities themselves.
The epidemic, a term used for the first time by the Government on November 12 to characterize the current outbreak of these two diseases, has found fertile ground in Cuba to spread months after the first infections were detected last July in Matanzas.
More than a hundred Cubans admitted to intensive care for dengue and chikungunya
The current economic crisis in Cuba 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.
The Minsap has reiterated that the official figures are an under-record because a good number of patients do not go to hospitals for treatment.
