Cuba struggling with first cholera outbreak in more than a century

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
7/13/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

'El evento' outbreak has claimed three lives and sickened many others

Cuba is dealing with its first cholera outbreak in more than a century. 'El Evento" as it has been dubbed by doctors has claimed three lives and sickened more than a hundred so far.

The outbreak was first mistakenly diagnosed as food poisoning as the first patients - complaining of diarrhea and dehydration, all attended the same birthday party in Manzanillo. The sick had all eaten shrimp at the party.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The outbreak was first mistakenly diagnosed as food poisoning as the first patients - complaining of diarrhea and dehydration, all attended the same birthday party in Manzanillo. The sick had all eaten shrimp at the party.

Then more people began walking into hospitals - who had not attended the party with similar symptoms. "They started coming in a few at a time," Julio Cesar Fonseca Rivero, the director of the Celia Sanchez Manduley Hospital, the largest in the region says.

"The first day five came, and then eight. That's not normal, that five people would come with the same symptoms. The most critical days were when there were 30 to 32 patients who arrived in a single day."

Diarrhea is not unusual for Manzanillo's hospitals as many in the area live without indoor plumbing. The summer had already been particularly hot with heavy rains that caused outhouses to flood into several drinking wells.

"The way that the outbreak developed and the appearance of other similar cases in the region, we realized this was a problem of a different magnitude," Dr. Manuel Santin Pe�a, Cuba's national director of epidemiology said.

It was determined that the mystery illness was cholera - unusual, as Cuba's last cholera outbreak occurred over a century ago. While eradicated in many countries, cholera infects between three million and five million people each year, killing between 100,000 and 120,000.

Doctors were waiting on test results for tens of other possible cases but said so far fewer than 30 percent of suspected cases had been shown to be cholera.

A handful of suspected cases had been identified elsewhere in Cuba. Santin says those cases had come from the same region where the original outbreak took place and are believed to have been infected there.

"We can categorically say that there is no other outbreak in any other province," Santin told CNN.

The local government has closed 12 contaminated wells around Manzanillo, Santin said. Clean water is being trucked in for residents until a different source of water can be found.

Entrances to hospitals and government buildings in the city provide buckets for people to wash their hands and soles of their shoes with chlorine bleach. In addition, kiosks throughout Manzanillo that sell milkshakes, iced drinks or other foods that came into contact with water have been closed.

A temporary ban has also been issued for fishing and bathing in waters off the coast that may be contaminated.

� 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Keywords: El evento, Cuba, cholera, outbreak, precautions

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1 - 3 of 3 Comments

Humberto Capiro
10 months ago
THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT TRIED TO HIDE THIS DENGUE EPIDEMIC A WHILE BACK!

CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION
The American Journal of Epidemiology is the premier epidemiological journal devoted to the publication of empirical research findings, methodological developments in the field of epidemiological research, and opinion pieces. It is aimed at both fellow epidemiologists and those who use epidemiological data, including public health workers and clinicians.
Cuba had its first dengue epidemic of modern times in 1977; transmission continued probably until 1981, and more than 500,000 mild cases were reported. A 1978 serologic survey for flavivirus antibody indicated that 44.6% of the Cuban population had been infected with dengue-1 virus, whereas before 1977 only 2.6% had antibodies.

A second dengue epidemic in 1981, caused by dengue-2 virus, was unusually severe and widespread. Of 344,203 cases, 10,312 were clinically classified as dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS), and 158 persons (101 children and 57 adults) died . Before 1981, only 60 suspected or confirmed DHF sporadic cases had been reported in the region. Dengue-2 virus isolated during the 1981 epidemic was classified in the same genotype as New Guinea 1944. Not previously known to circulate in the Americas, this genotype was not isolated again in the region until 1994 in Venezuela and in 1995 in Mexico. Retrospective studies show that although the 1981 epidemic was detected in May, the first cases occurred in December 1980.

CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE REPORT!

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/4/1/98-0111_article.htm
Humberto Capiro
10 months ago
THIS CHOLERA EPIDEMIC MOST LIKELY CAME FROM THE DECAYING WATER AND SANITARY INFRASTRUCTURE AND NOT FROM ANY HAITIAN CONNECTION!

CUBA TRANSITION PROJECT - Institute for Cuban & Cuban-American Studies at University of Miami - 2006 - WATER POLLUTION: According to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), water pollution in Cuba is a serious concern, particularly since there is a marked lack of infrastructure to address the issue. Of the 2,160 main contaminant sources recognized by UNEP, 1,273 or 59 percent, release their pollution into the Cuban environment without any treatment whatsoever. Another 433, or roughly 20 percent, receive limited but inadequate treatment before being discharged. (2) This analysis included agricultural sources of contamination, as well as industrial and human waste.

Despite its clear importance to the citizens of Cuba, the treatment of urban sewage in particular is extremely limited: only 17 or 18 percent receives any treatment before discharge into Cuban waterways. (3) The infrastructure of water and sanitation are beyond the breaking point and are close to catastrophic failure. Havana’s sewer system, which was built almost a hundred years ago, has been due for major repairs for almost five decades and is serving over two million citizens, well beyond its design capacity of 400,000. (4)

The Cuban government has recognized this as a major environmental problem on the island, conceding that “pollution in our ground and marine waters has gradually aggravated…caused mainly by the deficient state of the sewerage and its incomplete nature in the majority of cases." (5) UNEP reported an approximate total of 341,716 tons per year of organic material discharged into Cuban waters, equivalent to the pollution generated by a population of over 22.3 million people. It is worth noting that this level is twice the actual 2005 population of 11.2 million. (6)

CLICK LINK FOR ENTIRE REPORT!

http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/FACTS_Web/Cuba%20Facts%20Issue%2026%20November%202006.htm
Humberto Capiro
10 months ago
WHY SHOULD WE BELIEVE THE CASTRO GOVERNMENT?? THEY ARE SERIAL LIARS AND THEY DENY ACCESS TO THE INTERNET AND INFORMATION TO THE CUBAN PEOPLE!

Desi Mendoza Rivero is sentenced to eight years in prison
Desi Mendoza Rivero, a 43-year-old doctor and father of four children, has been sentenced to eight years' imprisonment in connection with his critique of the authorities' handling of a fever epidemic in Cuba.
Arrested on June 25, 1997, Dr. Mendoza was tried on November 18, and currently is held in Boniato Prison, just outside Santiago de Cuba. The charge against him stemmed from statements he issued, which were later disseminated by foreign newspapers and broadcast media, regarding an epidemic of dengue fever in Santiago de Cuba which reportedly had caused several deaths. Dr. Mendoza accused the authorities of covering up the true extent of the epidemic and of not taking sufficient measures to control it. He was charged with having violated an article of the Penal Code which refers to the dissemination of "enemy propaganda" through the mass media.

(Source: Amnesty International USA's Freedom Writers Network, January 1998.)

http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~vl/notes/rivero.html

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