New Outbreaks of Cholera in Santiago de Cuba

New Outbreaks of Cholera in Santiago de Cuba / 14ymedio, Yosmani Mayeta
Labrada
Posted on June 5, 2015

14ymedio, Yosmani Mayeta Labrada, Santiago de Cuba, 4 June 2015 — In the
midst of preparations for the 5th Centenary of the foundation of
Santiago de Cuba, the Hygiene and Epidemiology agencies have enacted
several measures to counter cholera outbreaks detected in Altamira and
Venceremos in the Santiago capital. The epidemic, thought to have been
controlled, has rebounded in slums such as La turbine, La Posita, La
Loma de la Candela and El Barrio de los Gitanos.

Gertrudis Mendoza, a medical clinic nurse, told 14ymedio that "There are
many suspected cases that came to the 28 de Septiembre clinic." During
her shift last Saturday, "More than six people showed up with diarrhea,
who were then taken to a larger clinic to be tested for cholera."

In the streets of these neighborhoods cars with loudspeakers from the
Provincial Hygiene and Epidemiology Center circulate several times a
day, repeating the hygiene measures needed to contain the infection. A
call to boil drinking water, frequent hand washing, and avoiding eating
street food, are some of the recommendations detailed by the Center's staff.

Luz Enidia, a resident of Los Muros, says that near her house "A private
snack bar was closed down because a man who ate a pizza there was
diagnosed with cholera and hospitalized." Afterwards the place was
sanitized according to the protocols. "Hygiene workers came with
chlorine and lime to clean everything, but even so the snack bar remains
closed.

In the Labadi Home for the Aged and Disabled in the Antonio Maceo
neighborhood, workers were summoned to an urgent meeting to advise them
of the extreme need to follow "the maximum hygiene," so that the vibrio
cholerae can't enter the institution "because the lives of elderly and
disabled people are at serious risk," says a source of the place who
requested anonymity.

Yudith Cando, the mother of a child who studies at the Alberto Paz
Primary School in La Planta, states that a teacher in the school has
cholera and she believes that, although she is hospitalized, the school
should take appropriate measures. Like her, many local residents are
demanding that the issue be handled with transparency and that public
authorities make clear the city's epidemiological situation.

However, so far the authorities have not confirmed the information and
the local newspaper Sierra Maestra has not spoken of the presence of
cholera in the area.

Source: New Outbreaks of Cholera in Santiago de Cuba / 14ymedio, Yosmani
Mayeta Labrada | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/new-outbreaks-of-cholera-in-santiago-de-cuba-14ymedio-yosmani-mayeta-labrada/