In the last week, dengue infections in Cuba increased by 35.5% compared to the previous week and the scenario is not expected to be any different as August progresses, due to “holidays, rains, intense heat, which makes it The situation is very complex.”
At the end of July, dengue has already spread in 11 Cuban provinces according to the Ministry of Public Health. However, the most affected territories are Isla de la Juventud, Havana, Guantánamo, Camagüey and Holguín.
“There are serious problems with environmental planning that today are also taxed by the multiplication of outbreaks throughout the territory,” said Health Minister José Ángel Portal Miranda, referring to the garbage that is scattered through the streets, in a meeting with the president. of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and whose report was broadcast on the Noon Newscast, on August 3. The minister asked that work be done on this matter “knowing the limitations that exist.”
At that same meeting, he asked that hospitals should avoid crowds and have reserve centers to receive more patients with alarm symptoms of the disease caused by the mosquito. aedes aegyptis.
The health workers insist that the population must do everything possible to protect themselves, because there are no insecticides such as abate or diesel to spray every six days
Just last week Cuba detected more cases of the disease than in the entire first semester, 4,776 cases between July 17 and 23. That week, 10,590 tests were carried out and the positivity rate was 45.1%.
Hospitals have increased places to receive more admissions due to dengue, in recent weeks, as in the case of the Mario Muñoz Monroy hospital, in Colón, Matanzas, which went from having one room to two, which in total have 80 beds.
The health workers insist that the population must do everything possible to protect themselves, because there are no insecticides such as abate or diesel to spray every six days, as established by the protocols. These limitations, together with the summer heat and the long hours of blackouts, are leading to the proliferation of a disease that had remained in the background during covid, but is now gaining strength.
Recently a doctor told 14ymedio that the union is alarmed by the increase in cases of severe dengue because “it’s not normal”. “In previous epidemics, maybe 1% or so of cases had warning signs (the ones that alert you that the patient is not doing well), but now it’s more than 30%.”
The Ministry of Public Health warned of the symptoms of the disease: abdominal pain, vomiting, irritability, drowsiness, swelling or edema and bleeding and warned that four dengue serotypes circulate on the island “which means that it is possible to be infected four times,” indicates the announcement sent through your Telegram channel.
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