Same Ol’ Same Ol’ dengue fever

Estancia Cubana reports that Cuba has finally admitted that they have a dengue fever problem on their hand. Read the following article, and by the way it was written in 2002, the last time that Cuba entered into the battle of the vectors. Has anything changed? With the exception of a couple of names this story could have been written today.

Cuba fights worst dengue fever outbreak in decades
By TRACEY EATON / The Dallas Morning News

HAVANA – Thousands of Cubans have taken to the streets to combat dengue fever, which has killed at least two people and infected hundreds of others in the worst outbreak the capital has seen in more than two decades.

Mosquitoes are blamed for spreading the tropical disease, which has seen explosive growth in the Americas in recent years, reaching as far north as Texas. In Cuba, President Fidel Castro has vowed to stop the outbreak in its tracks, hunting down every last mosquito "even if it's one by one." "The mosquito has no possible chance of escape. We've got the entire populace fighting the epidemic," he told reporters earlier this month.

A 1981 epidemic killed 158 Cubans, including 51 children, in what was later called the worst single outbreak of dengue fever. Mr. Castro blamed the United States for that episode. He accused covert agents of introducing the virus as part of a biological warfare campaign, an accusation the U.S. denied.

This time around, Mr. Castro blames a black mosquito known as the Aedes aegypti, a dime-size bug that bites during the day. The mosquito thrives in crowded cities and breeds in stagnant water. The female requires blood for its eggs to mature – and humans are a convenient target.

In January, Cuban authorities dispatched the first of 11,000 workers to fumigate every home and building in Havana, the eastern city of Guantánamo and the western town of Pinar del Rio. Workers carry what they call "bazookas," a shoulder-held device that resembles a leaf blower and fills the air with white plumes of insecticide.

Residents who refuse to let the workers fumigate face fines and possible jail time. But the anti-mosquito campaign has broad public support and very few people interfere. "We have to help for everyone's well-being," said Ana Rosa Menendez, a 57-year-old retiree. "The fumigation doesn't bother me at all because it kills cockroaches, too," said another resident, Yamila Chanfrau Santos, 39, a secretary.

American officials refused to let workers fumigate the residence of Vicki Huddleston, the chief U.S. diplomat in Cuba. An official explained that there was some concern about the insecticide used. "We don't know what's in it," he said.

Marta Beatriz Roque, a dissident and economist who has served jail time for her opposition to the socialist regime, also had concerns. The first fumigation of her house made her sick, she said. So when workers returned a second time, she refused to let them in. She said she was detained in what turned out to be the first of four arrests for failure to comply. Authorities also fined her 600 Cuban pesos, or about $23, which is about what a surgeon on the island earns in one month. Before workers fumigated for the third time, she said, about 15 policemen surrounded her house. "It seemed like they came to arrest a terrorist or a murderer," she said. "They took me to the command post for mosquito control. They took away my key, came back to the house and fumigated." She said she was also arrested when workers returned for the fourth and fifth sprayings and she was strip-searched each time by female security agents who were ostensibly looking for her house key. A female friend who was in her house when the workers arrived also was taken away and strip-searched, Ms. Roque said. "They do it to humiliate you," she said.

Government authorities deny mistreating dissidents. Mosquito control officials did not respond to an interview request.

Dengue fever has been around for at least several hundred years. Philadelphia doctor Benjamin Rush called it "breakbone fever" in 1780 because of the terrible joint and muscle pain it can cause.

Dengue outbreaks have traditionally hit Africa and Asia, but cases in the Americas have been rising over the last two decades, stretching into Mexico and southern Texas. Some 2.5 billion people are at risk, and more than a million cases are reported every year, the World Health Organization says.

According to state-run media in Cuba, the current outbreak had as of the end of November infected more than 1,600 people in 96 of the country's 169 municipalities.
Roof-top water tanks are one of the insect's favorite homes in Havana. They often are found in spiritual water, too. Many Cubans leave out glasses of water for Afro-Cuban gods or Catholic saints. Authorities are now warning people to change their spiritual water every two days or risk infestation.

As part of the campaign, workers have also picked up thousands of tons of trash where mosquitoes might be breeding and hiding out. They are spending $25 million to repair or replace thousands of leaky water pipes. And they are distributing free covers for residents' outdoor water tanks.

"It's an aggressive and effective campaign," said Bacilio Hernandez, 41, a Havana taxi driver who recently recovered from dengue. "I don't think there will be a single mosquito left in Cuba after this offensive against dengue."

But that won't be the end of it. After the mosquitoes are gone, Mr. Castro said, he plans to go after another disease-spreading creature:

The rat.

The rat is still alive; although no pictures have been shown in the last several days.