Health authorities estimated this Tuesday that the country could soon enter “a stage of control” of the double epidemic of chikungunya and dengue, which already has nearly 70,000 infected.
The Vice Minister of Public Health, Carilda Peña, made these statements on Cuban television, where she indicated that the maintenance of the downward trend in new infections in recent weeks leads to thinking that the outbreak could be controlled in the short term.
“The country continues with the same trend, so it seems that we are going to enter a control stage” of the epidemic in a shorter time, he explained.
Peña reported that 2,069 new cases of nonspecific febrile syndrome were diagnosed the previous day. High fever is the first symptom of both dengue and chikungunya and it is only afterward that the disease can be precisely defined.
This number of cases of nonspecific febrile syndrome is clearly lower than the records from the previous week, 1,000 less, said the official.
In addition, 324 new cases of chikungunya were diagnosed, bringing the total number of people infected by this disease in the current outbreak in Cuba to 42,339.
Peña again did not offer data on dengue cases. However, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which uses official Cuban figures, indicated this Monday that the number of cases of this disease so far this year in Cuba amounted to 25,995 at the end of November.
The Cuban Government has repeatedly explained that these numbers of infected people are an underreporting because many patients do not go to medical centers.
The Vice Minister of Public Health also indicated that 71 people remain in intensive care for dengue or chikungunya (one more than the previous day). Of them, ten are in critical but stable condition (nine are minors).
Economic crisis limits Cuba’s fight against the chikungunya epidemic, says PAHO representative
The Cuban Government recognized on November 12 that the country was suffering from a chikungunya and dengue epidemic, despite the fact that the first cases were diagnosed in June and the thousands of cases registered in September and October.
The epidemic has found fertile ground in Cuba to spread due to the serious economic crisis that the country is suffering, a fact that limits the capacity for prevention and control, and care for the sick due to lack of medicines and other health supplies.
Efe/OnCuba.
