The Cuban Ministry of Public Health (Minsap) warned this Wednesday that, in the current epidemic, cases of dengue registered have increased by more than 71% in just seven days.
Vice Minister Carilda Peña assured on television that the incidence rate of dengue cases currently is 6.52 per 100 thousand inhabitants, compared to 3.81 on Wednesday of last week.
These data imply, if the 9.7 million inhabitants of the island are taken as a reference according to the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), that the daily cases detected went from 369 to 632 in seven days, an increase of more than 71%.
“(The rate) grew compared to the same day the previous week, which was 3.81. Therefore we continue to give the alert (that), although chikungunya prevails (in the current epidemic), we cannot forget dengue and the complications it can bring,” said Peña.
The Minsap does not offer the exact numbers of dengue cases in its daily updates, but the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which uses official Cuban figures, indicated on Monday that, from the beginning of the year until the end of November, the number of infections due to this disease amounted to 25,995.
Chikungunya cases and patients in intensive care
Peña reported that in the previous day, 2,712 new cases of nonspecific febrile syndrome, the first common symptom of dengue and chikungunya, were diagnosed, and that 466 of the second disease were confirmed.
In this way, the accumulated number of patients with this disease is 42,805, in accordance with official statistics.
Peña added that 65 people remain in intensive care for dengue or chikunguñnya, six less than the previous day.
The island’s health authorities have so far confirmed 44 deaths from chikungunya and dengue fever in the midst of the current epidemic. Likewise, they have reiterated that the numbers of infected people are underreported, because many patients do not go to medical centers.
The Cuban Government recognized for the first time on November 12 that there was an epidemic of chikungunya and dengue, despite the fact that the first cases were diagnosed in July and that infections skyrocketed in September and October.
The epidemic has found fertile ground in Cuba to spread due to the serious economic crisis that 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, due to lack of medicines and other health supplies.
