www.chinaview.cn 2009-07-20 12:08:49
COLOMBO, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Two Cuban epidemiologists who were invited
to help Sri Lanka to handle the fast spreading Dengue epidemic in the
island did not arrive in Colombo as expected, a local English newspaper
said on Monday.
The Daily Mirror reported that Cuba's chief epidemiologist Aramis
Martinez and assistant epidemiologist S. Yalina were expected to arrive
here on 8:30 a.m. on Saturday.
"I went to the airport with health services Deputy Director General
Palitha Mahipala to receive the two Cuban epidemiologists who were to
arrive on an Emirates flight via Dubai. They were not among the
planeload of passengers who checked in at the immigration desk," the
paper quoted Sri Lankan Health Ministry spokesman W. M. D. Wanninayake
as saying.
Wanninayake said when the Cuban Embassy checked with the health
authorities in Havana of Cuba, they were told that the two
epidemiologists left their office on Thursday and they were due to
travel to Sri Lanka via Dubai.
"However, when the embassy checked the Emirates passenger manifesto
it was found that the two Cubans had not arrived in Dubai," Wanninayake
said.
The two Cubans were being sent here after Sri Lankan health
officials sought the assistance of Cuban to control the fast spreading
dengue epidemic with the use of Bacillus Thuringensis Israelensis (BTI).
The BTI bacteria is being widely used in Cuba to control the
breeding of disease-bearing mosquitoes, the paper said.
The Dengue fever is fast spreading in Sri Lankan since the
beginning of this year with 180 people killed by the disease and more
than 18,000 cases reported so far.
This represents a sharp increase as 4,156 dengue cases and 85
deaths were reported for the whole year of 2008.
The World Health Organization said some 2.5 billion people, two
fifths of the world's population, are now at risk from dengue and
estimated that there may be 50 million cases of dengue infection
worldwide every year.
Cuban specialists on Dengue missing on way to Sri Lanka_English_Xinhua
(20 July 2009)
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/20/content_11738147.htm
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