The health authorities assure that the province has “the necessary reagents to comply with the established protocols.”
LIMA, Peru – Dr. Ekaterines Zayas Tamayo, II degree specialist in Hygiene and Epidemiology, also responsible for the Provincial Laboratory of Microbiology in Santiago de Cuba, warned this weekend about the circulation of three dengue serotypes in that territory.
In statements to the state newspaper Sierra Maestra The board reported that there are dengue serotypes 2, 3 and 4 in Santiago de Cuba, with 2 having the necessary virulence to cause severe forms of the disease, as well as its combination with other serotypes.
In contrast to the complaints about the lack of supplies and resources necessary for the diagnosis of the disease on the Island, Zayas Tamayo assured that “up to this minute” the province has “the necessary reagents to comply with the protocols established for hospitalized patients and in areas with active movement of feverish patients.”
At the same time, the specialist recognized that once a patient begins symptoms, the serum samples that are extracted must be sent to the other end of the Island for the identification of the circulating virus through PCR, in this case, to the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine in Havana.
The other alternative for diagnosis in Santiago de Cuba would be the Ultra Micro Analytical System (SUMA), centralized in a provincial laboratory, but which must wait until the sixth day after the symptoms begin to be able to obtain the diagnosis through the measurement of antibody titers.
“It is crucial that the patient is accurate when reporting the date of onset of symptoms; performing the test earlier may give a negative result and falsify the diagnosis,” the directive states.
A rising epidemic
The Cuban Ministry of Public Health reported this Wednesday a significant increase in cases of mosquito-borne diseases, with more than 13,000 people treated for fever in the last week and an increase in the number of patients in serious condition.
The Vice Minister of Public Health, Carilda Peña García, said for the Caribbean Channel During the weekly television update, he specified that the week closed with 13,071 non-specific febrile cases, which shows an increase in arboviruses throughout the country. “The surveillance system that is fundamentally established on fever is giving us a balance towards an increase in all territories of the country,” he declared.
The official explained that the national incidence rate ofl dengue It reached 24.3 cases per 100,000 inhabitants—about 2,360 affected by this disease, taking into account that the country has 9.7 million inhabitants—and that “five provinces show the highest numbers.” Among them he mentioned Guantánamo, Matanzas, Ciego de Ávila, Havana and Cienfuegos, while Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus and Camagüey present “a level of complication with the circulation of dengue.”
The vice minister also confirmed an increase in serious conditions associated with arboviruses. “There was an increase in serious cases this week. 16 more patients were treated than the previous week in therapy rooms in a group of provinces and territories of the country,” he explained. He added that during the week seven patients were treated in critical condition and that at the end of that period “we ended the week with only one.”
In the face of public opinion, while health authorities try to do damage control through the Castro press, deaths from arboviruses on the Island are increasing and without being reported from official statistics.
The Cuban singer residing in the United States Eduardo Antonio reported last Thursday on his Facebook profile the death of his mother in Cuba and attributed the cause to dengue, while defining the health scenario on the Island as a “pandemic.”
“Unfortunately, in Cuba we are currently experiencing a dengue pandemic, which left my mother dead today,” wrote the artist, known as The Divo of Placetas.
In his public farewell, the artist addressed his mother – whom he identified as Olguita – with a message of mourning: “I love you, my mother, forever and I will stay here with your love and your joy. I am going to need a lot of strength to move forward because I never imagined that the pain I feel today would be so dark and deep.”
