Havana/Without mentioning figures, the director of the Provincial Center of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Microbiology of Matanzas, Andrés Lamas Acevedo, confirmed this Saturday the existence of active cases of hepatitis in various parts of the province, including Versalles, the area of Plácido, La Cumbre and “isolated cases in all municipalities.” In an interview for the media Gironthe doctor assures that all the outbreaks are now “fairly controlled.”
The official explains that “the cases of hepatitis transmission that exist in the province have been spread from person to person” and not through water, “as we had in Versailles 20 years ago.” And he tried to minimize the outbreak: “There have really been few cases.”
However, the same medium points out at the beginning of the note that “for a couple of weeks, the inhabitants of the province of Matanzas have been concerned” about the situation.
To try to contain the cases, Lamas Acevedo points out that the authorities temporarily closed establishments in the Plácido area. “When a group of people concentrated in a certain area gets sick, as is the case in Plácido, we have to close establishments, including the guarapera and cafes that sell prepared liquids, such as coffee and juice, because there is no evidence that they are safe.”
“Everyone has no way to boil water, either because they don’t have gas or they have to put in coal.”
Another preventive measure is to boil or chlorinate water with hypochlorite. However, the official himself recognizes the material limitations of the population: “Everyone has no way to boil water, either because they do not have gas or they have to put in coal. Because of this, we must encourage citizens to have access to hypochlorite in all pharmacies.”
“At this time it has been placed, for example, in the places where there are more cases of hepatitis. However, it must be extended to all pharmacies in the municipalities, so that there is direct access to the product,” he points out.
The importance, he says, lies in the fact that an outbreak can begin after “a fly that goes to a landfill where there is feces from a sick person and then lands on a piece of bread, candy or broth that is in a house, then it leaves the virus there.”
The doctor also said that hepatitis is a disease that is difficult to control due to its period of silent transmission. “It begins to be transmitted 10 days before symptoms appear and up to 15 days after. Therefore, I can have it now, feel good and be spreading it,” he says.
At the beginning of April, provincial authorities had already announced that they had reinforced epidemiological surveillance in the face of outbreaks.
At the beginning of April, provincial authorities had already announced that they had reinforced epidemiological surveillance due to the presence of hepatitis outbreaks in several municipalities, with the most critical situation concentrated in the Versalles neighborhood, where there were, at that time, 18 active cases.
The same specialist Lamas Acevedo recognized at the time the relative seriousness of the situation, although he tried to reduce its alarm: “Although it is not a large outbreak, joint actions between the health sector and other organizations will allow transmission to be stopped.”
Other cases have been reported in Camagüey. On April 23, provincial television interviewed an official from the health sector, who acknowledged that “there is currently an increase in our province of suspected and probable cases of the hepatitis A virus, fundamentally distributed in a greater number of cases in our municipality.”
In the television note, the media pointed out that “in a scenario in which there are serious problems with the collection of solid waste, it is urgent to take extreme hygienic-sanitary measures.” Despite the scenario, the health official interviewed maintained that “at this time, we do not have an outbreak in the municipality of Camagüey, despite the fact that there is a notable increase in the disease.”
“At this time, we do not have an outbreak in the municipality of Camagüey, despite the fact that there is a notable increase in the disease”
“Camagüey has been full of hepatitis cases for months. Where I live, more than 20 people that I know of have had hepatitis. Please, get serious,” responded a user to the Televisión Camagüey video. Another Internet user also questioned the official message: “Isolated is not the case, because when you in a guard unit diagnose 30 to 40 positive cases in one day, that is an outbreak.”
At the beginning of the year, the Health authorities of Ciego de Ávila reportedthrough official media, which investigated several suspected cases of hepatitis detected in different municipalities of the province.
As usually happens, no figures were given and they limited themselves to reporting that, after the detection of the first patients with symptoms compatible with the disease, the protocols established by the health system were activated.
Hepatitis is a disease characterized by inflammation of the liver. Among its most common symptoms are fatigue, yellowing of the skin and eyes, as well as nausea, abdominal pain and dark urine, although it can occur without symptoms. However, in severe cases, extreme fatigue, fever between 37 and a half, 38 degrees, headache, muscle aches, loss of appetite and bleeding gums may occur.
