The most affected age group continues to be those under 18 years of age.
MIAMI, United States. – The Cuban health authorities reported this Friday an increase in the number of deaths associated with arboviruses in the country, which now amounts to 55 deaths, of which 18 are attributed to dengue and the rest to chikungunya, according to official data provided by the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP).
The information was confirmed by the Vice Minister of Public Health Carilda Peña García during her appearance on the television program Good morning. According to the official, in the weekly analysis carried out by the medical commissions “there were three people who unfortunately died from chikungunya.”
Peña García specified that the most affected age group continues to be those under 18 years of age, a trend that, he said, continues in both serious cases and deaths.
At the end of this Thursday, the health surveillance system had detected 2,188 people with non-specific febrile syndrome in the country. The vice minister pointed out that, although the active investigation network has been expanded, the number of people with this type of symptoms “is decreasing.” The majority of these patients, he added, do not require hospital admission and are treated at home under medical monitoring.
Regarding chikungunya, the authorities reported 372 new cases in a single day, of which 27 were confirmed by PCR and the rest correspond to clinical suspicions. With these figures, Cuba accumulates 47,756 cases of the disease.
Due to arbovirosis in general, 43 patients were admitted to intermediate intensive care rooms, which represents an increase of five serious cases compared to the previous day, according to official data.
Regarding dengue, the incidence rate of suspected cases stood at 8.32, a value lower than that reported in the same period last year, when it reached 12.51, according to the MINSAP. In relation to the Oropouche virus, Peña García assured that no cases have been diagnosed in the country, although clinical, epidemiological and molecular surveillance is maintained.
On the other hand, the vice minister addressed concerns related to the regional circulation of the H3N2 influenza virus. He confirmed that H3N2 has circulated in Cuba, but denied the presence of the variant known as clade K.
The Cuban health authorities themselves have admitted that the official numbers of infected people represent an under-report. As recalled on state television, many patients do not go to medical centers.
The Cuban Government recognized for the first time on November 12 the existence of a chikungunya and dengue epidemic in the country, despite the fact that the first cases were diagnosed in July and infections began to skyrocket in September and October.
The epidemic has found especially favorable terrain in Cuba to expand due to the serious economic crisis that the country is going through. This situation limits the capacity for prevention – particularly massive fumigation against mosquitoes –, control – through laboratory tests to confirm the type of disease – and care for the sick, due to the lack of medicines and other health supplies.
