Until now, no serious case or death has been reported among patients admitted due to the eventual viral condition, manifested as “nonspecific febrile syndromes,” in Santiago de Cuba.
“There really hasn’t been any seriousness. Very few cases with alarm signs have been received,” for which “the pertinent measures have been taken… and so far they have had a satisfactory evolution. And we have not had to mourn any loss of human life,” said Dr. Tania Carbonell, deputy director of Critical Care Care, at the Saturnino Lora hospital.
Speaking in a special informative program on the Santiago TV channel, along with other specialists, Dr. Carbonell confirmed that there is an increase in “arbovirus” in the province of Santiago de Cuba, in which clear cases of dengue stand out.
Warning signs
The specialist called for monitoring the so-called alarm signs: abdominal pain, persistent vomiting and diarrhea, spontaneous bleeding, alterations in mental status and a sudden drop in temperature, “which in the critical phase of the disease is not an element of good health.” forecast”.
Likewise, he insisted that when taking therapeutic measures to treat fever, it should be taken into account that aspirin should not be administered, due to the risk of death.
Do not fear hospital admission
For his part, Dr. Luis Enrique Rondón, an intensive care physician in the intermediate therapy at the North Children’s Hospital in the city of Santiago, stated that an “epidemiological alert” is in force given the time of year and recommended going to the community doctor if symptoms occur. symptoms in children, especially fever.
“Do not fear hospital admission. The age of the child, the smaller the child, the more vulnerable to suffering from a serious illness, the less clinical expressiveness it has, age is an important risk factor, especially under one year old,” the specialist warned.
Location of the outbreaks
The largest number of febrile cases has been detected in a health area known as Boniato and in the municipality of Songo-La Maya.
“The monosera were negative for dengue,” Dr. Luis Enrique Rosabal, deputy director of Epidemiology, of the provincial center of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Microbiology of Santiago de Cuba, told television.
According to the source, surveillance has been maintained and the collection of monosera has continued in order to “have a clear definition of what the virus is, after analysis, because we suspect that due to its characteristics and the way it spreads, it is a viral process.” which until now causes a “benign condition.”
Protocols for hospital admission
Dr. Rosabal confirmed that according to the protocol established since 2019 for cases of arbovirosis, children under ten years of age, pregnant women, postpartum women, and adults who have comorbidities that may endanger their lives, are admitted to a hospital unit.
“Due to the time of year, we were expecting an increase in arboviruses and acute diarrheal diseases and other seasonal diseases such as viral meningoencephalitis,” said the specialist.
Vector control
Actions to control vectors in the province, and specifically in the blocks that have been stratified as higher risk, have been intensified “with the little we have,” admitted Dr. Rosabal, in order to cut off the transmission of the disease. .
“We have seen on the networks a series of comments, unhealthy things, that have really put the work of health sector workers at stake,” complained, for his part, Dr. Raúl Leyva Caballero.
“It is not expected to be an epidemic year, but there will be an increase in diseases caused by Aedes aegypti, and other species of mosquitoes,” warned the head of the Provincial Department of Health Promotion, ProSalud.
The doctor called for immediate surveillance and “vital community participation,” at a time when the economic crisis has caused “serious difficulty with larvicides and insecticides for vector control, which is why massive fumigation campaigns are not being carried out in the areas.” addresses, except those where the cases have appeared.”
Eight people admitted to Santiago de Cuba with “non-specific febrile syndromes”
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According to the journalistic report broadcast in the special program on local television in Santiago de Cuba, on May 11, health workers in Songo La Maya identified an increase in feverish symptoms and began studying the cases.
So far, 25 tests have been carried out on people suffering from fever and diarrhea, in addition to vomiting and general malaise, whose blood samples were sent to the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Pedro Kourí, (IPK), in Havana, from where A diagnosis is awaited to establish more precise and efficient medical approach protocols.
