Pinar Del Rio, Under Siege By Dengue Fever

Pinar Del Rio, Under Siege By Dengue Fever / 14ymedio, Juan Carlos Fernandez
Posted on September 30, 2015

14ymedio, Juan Carlos Fernandez, 29 September 2015 – The fear of
contracting dengue fever keeps thousands of families on tenterhooks in
the province of Pinar del Rio, especially those with young children.

Problems with the water supply are among the main causes for the
outbreak, said a family doctor from the Hermanos Barcón People's
Council, who requested anonymity. "People build tanks, cisterns and try
to store water and that is a constant focus of vectors," he says. "There
are areas in the city that only receive water every fifteen days,"
adding that the "poor state of the health centers in the capital makes
many people with the disease try to hide it so they will not be forced
to go to a hospital," thereby increasing the risk of contagion.

Hospitals have reinforced their services to deal with cases of dengue
fever, especially Leon Cuervo Rubio Hospital and Abel Santamaría General
Teaching Hospital, which has one room only for pregnant women. It has
also set up a room at the Simon Boliver Health Polytechnic and another
for infants in the Turcios Lima polyclinic, while in the Pepe Portilla
Pediatric Hospital the avalanche of fever cases has required them to
place beds in the corridors, with mosquito nets to prevent transmission.

Although health authorities spread the word about the increase of cases
in the region they have not yet provided data on infections. Dr. Mérida
Morales Lugo, head of the International Sanitary Control Program, simply
explained last Friday in a statement to the local newspaper Guerrilla
that conditions are favorable for "accelerated vector reproduction,"
referring to the Aedes aegypti mosquito. However, the specialist said,
so far there are no cases of hemorrhagic dengue fever, the most feared
form of the disease.

There are confirmed cases of dengue fever in the four health areas of
the Pinar del Rio capital and in eight of its People's Councils, an area
that has a population of about 122,000. The disease has also reached the
municipalities of San Luis, San Juan y Martinez and Consolacion del Sur,
near the provincial capital.

Health authorities have urged people to go to the doctor at the least
sign of fever symptoms. Medical students, staff in all the family
medicine offices and public health administrative workers have been
mobilized along with other workplace employees to search house to house,
looking for people with symptoms of the disease.

Source: Pinar Del Rio, Under Siege By Dengue Fever / 14ymedio, Juan
Carlos Fernandez | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/pinar-del-rio-under-siege-by-dengue-fever-14ymedio-juan-carlos-fernandez/