A problem is brewing that can far surpass the ravages of the oropouche virus in the province of Santiago de Cuba, reported the local newspaper Sierra Maestra.
Alfredo Cintra Guerra, head of the provincial department of Surveillance and vector control, said that the territory has a high infestation of the dengue transmitting agent in the main municipality, and also in Palma Soriano, Contramaestre, Mella and San Luis.
The official admitted that current economic limitations prevent wide-ranging interventions, but added that Public Health continues to carry out “adulticidal treatment” (fumigation) and the focal treatment at home in cases of non-specific febrile syndrome, as well as in surrounding homes and in neighborhoods with dengue transmission.
The Santiago authorities admitted that these measures are not enough to guarantee the containment of arboviruses, and they asked that collective health actions be increased from homes, workplaces and neighborhoods.
In the Altamira district, in Santiago de Cuba, Claribel Rodríguez, still with symptoms of the disease, explains the conditions under which the residents of her town face the virus.
“Look, there is no food, there is no medicine, there is no amount of accumulated garbage… There is nothing here,” described the housewife.
It’s not just Santiago…
Meanwhile, residents in several Cuban provinces alerted Martí Noticias about the precariousness of basic services to prevent the proliferation of mosquitoes, saying that there is not enough fumigation and that there is an accumulation of garbage in landfills in the middle of the street. Furthermore, the screening campaign is non-existent and medicines are in short supply.
From the town of Aguada de Pasajeros, in Cienfuegos, one of the three provinces where the Ministry of Public Health officially recognized the existence of cases with the new virus, Juan Alberto de la Nuez Ramírez, who is still recovering from oropouche, said that he is still He is waiting for his home to be fumigated, and due to a lack of reagents, he was not tested at the hospital. The only option they gave him was to perform the test within seven days, if the symptoms remain.
“After seven days, people had the dengue, the oropouche, so it is no longer quantified as if you had the virus,” the activist argued.
Guillermo del Sol, independent journalist, pointed out that there are no official numbers of infections in the city of Santa Clara, but there are many cases with symptoms similar to oropouche.
“Outbreaks of diarrhea, high fever have been reported… Also, with the mess of the blackouts and the hygienic-sanitary situation, there are many mosquitoes, especially at night and dawn. In Santa Clara, the fumigation campaign has not worked for a long time,” said the communicator.
Adriano Castañeda, also an independent communicator, highlighted that there is a significant deterioration in the public health system in the city of Sancti Spíritus.
“We don’t see anyone from the campaign, we don’t see these fumigation equipment, there are no medications to deal with a fever, there is not even a repellent to withstand the bites of these gnats,” he said.
From Pinar del Río, José Rolando Casares expressed his concern about the increase in dengue cases.
“The serious problem there is is the collection of solid waste and, in Pinar del Río, fumigation has not been done for a full year,” said the opponent.
Meanwhile, in Havana, opposition economist Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello criticized the lack of preventive work and care for those infected by the Public Health system.
“When dengue started here, on October 10, the family doctor came and asked if there was fever in the house, that is not being done at the moment. It is a very difficult situation due to the absence of preventive programs, which they do not have material resources to do so,” he concluded.
