MADRID, Spain. – In light of an increase in dengue fever cases on the island and the critical situation that the disease has unleashed, the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP, by its English acronym) issued an alert: “The risk of becoming sick is high in the entire country.”
Through a communique, the ministry highlighted that “infestation cases caused by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, dengue’s transmission agent, remain high” and that “we are still unable to stop transmission of the disease or to increase detection of suspicious cases.”
According to the official data revealed, in the present focal treatment cycle that started on September 5ththe largest number of mosquito foci is located in Santiago de Cuba, Havana, Camagüey, Holguín, Matanzas, Villa Clara and Pinar del Río.
MINSAP stated that water storage deposits continue to be the place where more foci are detected (71.5% of the total). It called for people to keep those storage deposits closed, at home as well as at work centers and schools.
“We cannot leave that responsibility to anti-vector campaign workers alone,” it added.
Health authorities also called for established protocols to be heeded in light of the epidemic, “in order to prevent people from getting sick, and if they do get sick, to be able to treat them as soon as possible.”
To that end, MINSAP referred to how important it was for sick individuals and their families to know the alarm symptoms of the disease (abdominal pain, vomiting, fluid retention, mucosal bleeding, irritability, sleepiness) and to be aware of these symptoms so that a person who presents them can be rushed immediately to the doctor.
In early September, MINSAP informed the public that an increase in dengue fever cases was forecast for the months of October and November on the island.
Clarilda Peña García, vice minister of Public Health, admitted that the country is going through “a difficult moment,” and “we are heading toward the most complex period for this disease, since the cycle peaks in late October and early November with a large vector wave and people ill with dengue fever.”
In July of this year, Public Health minister, José Ángel Portal Miranda, stated that the island was going through a “complex” epidemiological scenario; he also indicated that dengue-transmitting mosquito reproduction points of the last 15 years had already been surpassed.
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