The majority of sick people in Cuba do not go to medical centers due to lack of resources and poor capacity for assistance.
LIMA, Peru – The epidemiological crisis in Cuba continues to produce alarming figures in relation to the number of people affected by arboviruses, especially those caused by dengue and chikungunya.
According to official statistics from the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) on the Island, updated this last Friday, the number of Cubans sick and with symptoms of unconfirmed ailments from these viruses reached 43,911.
In an interview for state televisionCarilda Peña García, vice minister of MINSAP, reported that on Thursday, November 27 alone, some 6,793 people with “nonspecific febrile syndrome” were detected on the Island, a recurring euphemism in the Castro press due to the lack of diagnostic tests to determine which of the circulating arboviruses affects the patient.
However, the figure represents only a part of the existing patients in Cuba. The majority of mourners do not go to medical centers due to lack of resources and poor capacity for assistance. “These are the people we can attract,” acknowledges the vice minister.
Regarding the particular case of cikungunya, 826 new cases were detected last Thursday and only six were confirmed by PCR tests. Peña García pointed out that there are already 37,194 positive cases that the regime has been able to register, of which approximately 3% were detected from laboratory tests.
Likewise, he commented that the patients admitted to Intensive Care Units amount to 107, five more than those reported on Wednesday. Of that total, there are 79 reported serious, including 68 minors, and 28 in critical condition (25 children among them). The official did not speak about the existence of deaths.
Regarding dengue, the vice minister assured that 351 new cases were detected, the most affected provinces being Pinar del Río (105 cases), Holguín (85 cases), Matanzas and Mayabeque.
National arbovirus epidemic
In another recent updatethe national director of Epidemiology, Francisco Durán, reported that increases in febrile cases are observed in 68 municipalities of the country, with dengue present in almost all provinces and “confirmed transmission” of chikungunya in 14 provinces.
The MINSAP recognize that chikungunya has become the arbovirus that most worries the population, and that its expansion has been favored by summer population movement, adverse environmental conditions and, above all, the difficulties in applying traditional vector control measures.
The national head of Surveillance and Vector Control, Dr. Madelaine Rivera, admitted in the Round Table that the country has a limited number of fumigation equipment (“bazookas”), which are not produced in Cuba and depend on imports that are currently held back by the economic crisis and external restrictions, which has deteriorated the available technological park.
An evaluation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on the outbreak of dengue, chikungunya and Oropouche in Cuba describes “a rapid increase” in suspected cases throughout the country and points out a “particularly critical” situation in Matanzas and the eastern provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo. The document identifies “critical gaps” in the availability of fumigation equipment, mosquito nets and vector control supplies, as well as low levels of community awareness and weak surveillance systems at the local level.
In this scenario, MINSAP’s emphasis on the fact that “the majority of people recover completely within three months after infection” and that only “a small group” evolves into chronic forms, as stated by infectious disease specialist Daniel González Rubio in the Round Tablecontrasts with international evidence that places the burden of chronic disease in much higher ranges.
