With his white coat, his hair and moustache completely gray, and his noble and tired face, Dr. Francisco Durán, national director of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Public Health of Cuba (MINSAP), reappeared at the beginning of July on national television to inform Cubans that the Oropouche virus, that strange name that they have heard so much about lately, had spread to 12 of the 14 provinces of the Island. He also asked the population not to underestimate its symptoms. Cubans pay attention to Dr. Durán like almost no other official. He was the face that appeared on television, day after day, warning of the danger of the coronavirus when the epidemic landed in the country and around the world, and he read, day after day, the names and surnames of the victims that the virus left behind. Although it is not Covid-19, now the doctor warned Cubans not to ignore the risks of a tropical virus that has found fertile ground in Cuba to spread.
“It is important not to underestimate the symptoms because they are similar to dengue; but dengue can kill you, hence the importance of having the diagnosis made by a specialist,” said Dr. Durán, who also insisted that conditions such as heavy rains or the heat of the summer months accelerate the reproduction of the mosquito. Culex quinquefasciatusthe vector that transmits Oropouche fever, which lives on the island and reproduces easily in ponds and sewage waters. The general director of the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK), Dr. Vivian Kourí Cardellá, said that Cuba’s geographical location at the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico, in addition to climate change and natural phenomena, makes it a focus of infections such as arboviruses.
As of today, the virus is already present in all of the country’s provinces, with greater force in rural and semi-rural areas. Cubans, who have already had to deal with epidemics such as Zika, chikungunya, H1N1 influenza, SARS-CoV-2, avian flu, monkeypox and the many cases of dengue that are reported daily, have become alarmed not only by the presence of a virus about which very little is known, but also by the scarce resources the country has to deal with the disease.
Although the government has not yet made public the official number of infected people, the World Health Organization said in June that since the MINSAP reported the first outbreak of the disease in the province of Santiago de Cuba on May 27, a total of 74 cases had been registered in the country, of which 36 were men and 38 women. But that was two months ago, so it is estimated that the figures today are much higher.
The Oropouche virus was first detected in 1955 in Trinidad and Tobago, although the first major epidemic is believed to have occurred in 1960 in Brazil. To date, there is no evidence that the disease is transmitted from person to person, but rather through the bites of mosquitoes, gnats and ticks. This is the first time that there has been any news of its presence in Cuba. In Latin America, more than 7,700 cases have been reported from Brazil, Ecuador, French Guiana, Panama, Bolivia, Peru and Colombia. In Europe, countries such as Spain, Italy and Germany have recorded several cases of people infected with Oropouche, most of them after their recent trips to Cuba.
The country’s medical authorities and patients have described symptoms such as high fevers, discomfort from light, fatigue, muscle and head pain, joint stiffness, vomiting or nausea, which can last for several weeks. At the moment, there is a tendency by the authorities to downplay the deadly impact of the virus, despite the fact that the first two deaths have already been reported in northwestern Brazil. Although the Cuban government assures that it has not registered any patients in serious condition or deaths, there are already several reports of Cubans who have died after being diagnosed with the disease.
Ian Mario’s stepfather, a “healthy” 70-year-old man, died a few weeks ago, on the fourth day after being diagnosed with Oropouche at a medical center in Cienfuegos. “In my neighborhood, almost everyone had the disease,” Ian Mario told EL PAÍS. “My stepfather’s condition became more complicated, he had a fever, fatigue, and there came a time when he couldn’t urinate. Finally, he died from a urinary obstruction. Apparently, this virus triggered a series of problems in his body. Everything happened very fast, from one moment to the next they took him to the hospital and within hours they told my mother that he had very little time left to live. She couldn’t believe it. It was so sudden, he was dead instantly.”
“Febrile syndrome” instead of Oropouche
Several complaints on social media claim that the Cuban government is hiding the real numbers of Oropouche patients, calling the disease “febrile syndrome.” The outlook is discouraging in a country where, at least in the province of Guantánamo, 150 “febrile cases” are reported per week, according to official sources. One of the cases that has captured the attention of the independent press was that of 22-year-old Richard Daniel Nieves Chaveco, who was admitted to the Ambrosio Grillo Hospital in Santiago de Cuba with symptoms of Oropouche fever and died three days later.
Health authorities do not consider the relationship of these deaths with the new virus, and Dr. Durán has said that although “no serious or critical cases or deaths from Oropouche have been reported, this does not mean that its importance can be underestimated.” In the country —which began an investigation with Russia into the disease in the Caribbean region— no health alert has been declared. However, since August 1, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) issued an epidemiological alert urging the reinforcement of “the measures of entomological surveillance, vector control and personal protection of the population at greatest risk.”
There are currently no vaccines or specific treatments for the disease, and in Cuba authorities have advised people to drink plenty of fluids and maintain hygiene to prevent the spread of the vector. The fact that “very little is known about the consequences” that the infection can leave, as stated by Dr. Carilda Peña García, deputy minister of MINSAP, makes many people fear the presence of the virus in a country that is going through its worst health crisis, with a shortage not only of doctors, but also of resources in hospitals and availability of medicines in pharmacies.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel himself acknowledged that the “shortage of medicines” would continue this year, and the biopharmaceutical business group BioCubaFarma stated that in July there was a shortage of 251 medicines manufactured in the country. Faced with the shortage, many people have tried to relieve fevers with natural teas, but the authorities have publicly warned that this practice should be eliminated, since many children infected with the virus end up with diarrhea or vomiting.
The lack of fuel is another cause that contributes to the spread of Oropouche in Cuba. Dr. Durán himself recently stated that the country does not have insecticides or fuel to carry out fumigation campaigns against mosquitoes, which tend to be particularly bothersome during blackout hours. There have been many complaints in recent times about the accumulation of garbage throughout the country, and especially in Havana, where there is not only no fuel, but also no trucks to remove the enormous garbage dumps that grow on every corner. A report by the Cuban Observatory of Citizen Audit (OCAC) says that in the city, where 23,000 cubic meters of garbage are produced daily, the authorities only collect 68%, while some 7,600 cubic meters remain scattered throughout the capital, where many cases of dengue have been reported.
Follow all the information from El PAÍS América on Facebook and Xor in our weekly newsletter.
#Oropouche #virus #alerts #Cuba #cases #increase #due #lack #transparency