Havana/A total of 63 patients are in intensive care rooms in Cuba due to chikungunya, and among them there are 19 minors in “critical condition.” The information is from the doctor himself Francisco Durandirector of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Public Health, who reported this Wednesday of what the ruling party continues to call “complex epidemiological situation” in the program Good morning of state television.
The balance offered by the official reveals the seriousness of the health crisis that the country is experiencing, especially with regard to chikungunya. This Tuesday, he noted, 3,103 suspected cases of this disease were reported, “a high number for one day.” In addition, he said that there are currently 2,216 patients with a diagnosis, of which 126 are hospitalized.
Durán García recognized that this arbovirus – present in 14 provinces – is currently the main health problem, due to the number of infections and the severity of the symptoms, “which are extremely painful.”
This Tuesday, he noted, 3,103 suspected cases of this condition were reported, “a high number for one day.”
Already this Tuesday, a report from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) indicated that Cuba registered an average of 700 new daily cases of this outbreak in October, the vast majority in Havana and Matanzas.
Regarding dengue, the specialist said that only 344 new cases were reported, although he did not give total figures. In his speech on Canal Caribe, where, starting this Wednesday, he will have a segment to report on the “confrontation with these arboviruses”, as he had at the time for talk about the covid-19 epidemicalso spoke about oropouche, and assured that no new patients have been detected since September.
On the other hand, this Tuesday alone, 1,706 patients “with nonspecific febrile syndrome” were reported in the country, and it was noted that 3,226 people were given medical attention, of which 16% are hospitalized. Regarding the total number of cases, he assured, there are 47,125 patients admitted to health institutions due to one of these viruses.
The national director of Epidemiology recognized that the numbers of infections for both diseases reported by the authorities “do not always correspond to reality”, because many sick people do not go to medical services and, therefore, are not officially registered.
He also reported that mosquito infestation Aedes aegypti It remains at 0.70%, a figure that he described as “high”, since it implies “significant possibilities of transmission.” Despite the fumigation and abatement campaigns, the official himself admitted that the actions “remain insufficient.” He explained that, in many cases, the brigades do not have enough personnel or that the equipment to carry out these tasks is useless or “broken.”
Given this, he accused that these campaigns were not carried out in places such as Sancti Spíritus, Matanzas, Pinar del Río and Artemisa, especially when “these provinces have a high transmission rate.”
On the other hand, he denied the presence of the West Nile virus in the country, ensuring that the Institute of Tropical Medicine “has not diagnosed any case” after carrying out hundreds of tests, although he conceded that other arboviruses circulate on the Island.
“Arbovirosis. Which ones? We cannot know because there is no reagent”
The official, however, did not report in his report the number of deaths in the country due to any of these conditions. The last number officially reported was three, a month ago. However, both the high activity of funeral services, reported by this diaryas a multitude of publications on social networks deny it.
A post this Tuesday on Facebook, for example, includes the case of a 24 year old teacher died without having a clear diagnosis but that, “like many, her only illness for three months and a little more was ‘some arbovirus’.”
Regarding the lack of diagnosis, in the message the user asks: “Arbovirosis. Which ones? We cannot know because there is no reagent. How to treat them? With what you can solve and plenty of liquid that the doctors say is good for anything. Of course, if you are getting water, just because it has color does not mean that it is not drinkable according to the authorities.”
The complaint was also directed towards the institutions, due to their lack of responses. “We don’t know, no institution is made in our country to answer the questions of the masses, its function apparently is to justify each procedure,” he said and also pointed out to the doctors why they don’t report the lack of supplies and because of “the lack of exact knowledge of what the people have been sick with for a few months. We don’t know, maybe no one wants to take charge.”
