{"id":2070,"date":"2025-11-14T03:10:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T03:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=2070"},"modified":"2025-11-14T03:10:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T03:10:22","slug":"cuban-authorities-battle-wave-of-mosquito-borne-illnesses-health-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=2070","title":{"rendered":"Cuban authorities battle wave of mosquito-borne illnesses | Health News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead\"><em>Cuba&#8217;s top epidemiologist warned nearly a third of the population has been impacted and swaths of workforce sickened.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-dates\">\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Published On 14 Nov 2025<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">14 Nov 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-share\" data-testid=\"rich-share\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__button-wrapper\"><button class=\"rich-share__button row\" aria-expanded=\"false\"><\/p>\n<p>Click here to share on social media<\/p>\n<p><svg class=\"icon icon--share2 icon--primary icon--16 \" viewbox=\"0 0 20 16\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><title>share2<\/title><path fill=\"#000\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M11.688 9.048c-.659 0-1.252.282-1.673.733l-4.92-2.45c.016-.115.028-.232.028-.352 0-.117-.011-.23-.027-.343l4.913-2.423a2.285 2.285 0 0 0 1.68.739C12.964 4.952 14 3.899 14 2.6 14 1.302 12.965.25 11.688.25S9.377 1.302 9.377 2.601c0 .117.01.23.027.343L4.49 5.367a2.285 2.285 0 0 0-1.68-.739C1.536 4.628.5 5.681.5 6.979c0 1.299 1.035 2.35 2.312 2.35.659 0 1.252-.281 1.673-.731l4.92 2.45a2.357 2.357 0 0 0-.029.351c0 1.299 1.035 2.351 2.312 2.351S14 12.698 14 11.399s-1.035-2.35-2.312-2.35Z\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"rich-share__social-text\">Share<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Cuba is battling a wave of mosquito-borne illnesses, with the country\u2019s top epidemiologist warning that nearly one-third of the population has been impacted, with large numbers of workers taken ill.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, fumigators armed with fogging machines probed alleys and crowded buildings in parts of the capital Havana, among the hardest hit by mosquito-borne viruses including dengue and chikungunya, authorities said.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 3 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>It comes after Francisco Duran, the national director of epidemiology at the Cuban Ministry of Public Health, described the situation in the Caribbean island nation as \u201cacute\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are working intensely, as we did with COVID-19,\u201d Duran said, referring to ongoing research projects to find medications and vaccines to help tame the virus\u2019s impacts.<\/p>\n<p>Dengue fever has long plagued Cuba, but has grown worse as the government\u2019s ability to fumigate, clean roadside rubbish and patch leaky pipes has been hampered by an ongoing economic crisis.<\/p>\n<p>The once-rare chikungunya virus \u2013 which causes severe headache, rashes and joint pain which can linger months after infection, causing long-term disability \u2013 has also spread quickly in recent months.<\/p>\n<p>Chikungunya, which is spread primarily by the Aedes mosquito species that also carries dengue and Zika, has no specific treatment.<\/p>\n<p>Duran said Cuban health authorities are conducting two clinical trials to test the efficacy of Jusviza, an injectable drug used to control hyperinflammation, in treating chikungunya.<\/p>\n<p>He continued that another trial is under way to evaluate rectal ozone therapy as a treatment for patients with joint pain following chikungunya\u2019s acute phase. This form of treatment involves administering ozone gas through the rectum.<\/p>\n<p>Outbreaks of chikungunya have infected almost 340,000 people globally so far in 2025, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), resulting in 145 deaths in at least 16 countries. In July, the World Health Organization issued an urgent call for action to prevent another epidemic of the virus.<\/p>\n<p>Cuba\u2019s healthcare system, once among the best in Latin America, has suffered under a decades-long economic embargo orchestrated by the United States, seeking to pressure Havana\u2019s nominally communist government into making political and economic reforms.<\/p>\n<p>Citizens in the impoverished island nation routinely suffer from severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine, while the poorest are often unable to purchase insect repellent.<\/p>\n<p>The issue is exacerbated by frequent power outages, which leave Cubans with little choice but to open their windows and doors to ease the heat, inviting mosquitoes in and facilitating the spread of the disease.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe blockade is a policy of collective punishment,\u201d Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said in late October, as the United Nations General Assembly again overwhelmingly called for an end to Washington\u2019s embargo for a 33rd year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt flagrantly, massively and systematically violates the human rights of Cubans. It makes no distinction between social sectors or economic actors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cuba&#8217;s top epidemiologist warned nearly a third of the population has been impacted and swaths of workforce sickened. Published On 14 Nov 202514 Nov 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Cuba is battling a wave of mosquito-borne illnesses, with the country\u2019s top epidemiologist warning that nearly one-third of the population has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latin-america-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}