Cuba intensifies campaign against dengue fever; number of victims unknown
The Associated Press
Published: September 22, 2006
HAVANA Cuban authorities have intensified their campaign against dengue
fever, sending military planes to fumigate streets, buildings and
rooftops in the capital and going door-to-door to spray against
mosquitoes potentially carrying the disease.
They have remained silent, however, on the number of victims of the
disease. Community watch groups are telling Cubans there is an epidemic
and the number of people infected is growing.
A full-blown epidemic in Cuba in 1981 left 158 people dead.
"There has been a serious effort across the country ... to avoid the
infestation of the mosquito, which is the transmitting agent of the
disease," Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told The Associated Press
in New York, declining to provide more details.
Vice President Carlos Lage told public health workers that their top
priority is to "decrease infection."
Cuban workers fumigate homes several times a week, as inspectors check
out water tanks where the mosquitoes reproduce. Anyone who denies them
access can be fined.
Dengue, a disease found in tropical and subtropical regions, causes
severe joint pain, high fever, nausea and a rash. In severe cases, it
causes internal bleeding and leads to death. The virus is most commonly
spread by mosquitoes that have contracted it after biting infected humans.
HAVANA Cuban authorities have intensified their campaign against dengue
fever, sending military planes to fumigate streets, buildings and
rooftops in the capital and going door-to-door to spray against
mosquitoes potentially carrying the disease.
They have remained silent, however, on the number of victims of the
disease. Community watch groups are telling Cubans there is an epidemic
and the number of people infected is growing.
A full-blown epidemic in Cuba in 1981 left 158 people dead.
"There has been a serious effort across the country ... to avoid the
infestation of the mosquito, which is the transmitting agent of the
disease," Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque told The Associated Press
in New York, declining to provide more details.
Vice President Carlos Lage told public health workers that their top
priority is to "decrease infection."
Cuban workers fumigate homes several times a week, as inspectors check
out water tanks where the mosquitoes reproduce. Anyone who denies them
access can be fined.
Dengue, a disease found in tropical and subtropical regions, causes
severe joint pain, high fever, nausea and a rash. In severe cases, it
causes internal bleeding and leads to death. The virus is most commonly
spread by mosquitoes that have contracted it after biting infected humans.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/22/news/CB_GEN_Cuba_Dengue_Fever.php#
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