Vacationers Infected with Cholera in Caibarién, Cuba

Vacationers Infected with Cholera in Caibarién, Cuba / Yoel Espinosa Medrano
Posted on September 4, 2013

SANTA CLARA, Cuba , September 3, 2013 , Yoel Espinosa Medrano /
www.cubanet.org.- Two men and a woman are hospitalized in the Marta
Abreu clinic in the Brisas del Oeste neighborhood, infected with
cholera. Gilberto Caballero is one of the names of those infected; he is
in serious condition. The outbreak began in the Caibarién Beach, in the
north of the province.

Also, a one-year-old girl was admitted to the José Luis Miranda
Children's Hospital in the provincial capital. The patients had
dehydration caused by vomiting, diarrhea and of the only weakness.

"Gilberto was very bad, now he's stable, the three are in isolation
under strict medical supervision; in a few days they will return to
their homes; here we have all the conditions for treating these
patients; we decided to move only the pediatric case," said one
polyclinic worker who requested anonymity.

The infected spent a week on a work-sponsored vacation on the beach in
Caibarién. They stayed on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the only 3-story
building, located on 3rd and Circunvalación, in the Brisas del Oeste
neighborhood in Santa Clara. Right in front of the building the
waterline is broken. It was repaired just three months ago but every
time drinking water service comes, every five or six days, the precious
liquid pours down the street.

Dogs and horses drink water from the opening. There are people who scrub
motorcycles and bicycles in the water stream.

This area, west of the provincial capital, is on red alert due to the
high prevalence of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which carry dengue fever.

This Monday, workers were blocked from entering the 1st of May National
Industry of Household Production (INPUD), where the infected work, to
allow it to be sanitized and rule out any possible outbreak of cholera.

The INPUD cottages, the Mechanical Plant of the Ministry of Agriculture
and the hotel of the Interior Ministry, located in the seaside resort of
Caibarién, were closed until further notice. The work of clean up is
also underway there.

Health and epidemiology officials banned the sale of liquids in private
restaurants and food outlets, state and private, in the Brisas del Oeste
neighborhood.

Public health and government authorities have not commented. The numbers
of people infected with cholera and dengue fever are a secret.

The local media only issue calls to maintain proper health and hygiene
measures to prevent disease outbreaks.

About the author
Yoel Espinosa Medrano, born Matanzas, October 1973. His parents were
peasants and at the end of the 9th grade he began his studies in a
school for English teachers, in Santa Clara, from which he graduated in
1992. In 1998 he earned his teaching license in the English Language. In
2005 he began working at the Villa Clara School for Social Workers, from
which he was fired for not being politically reliable. In 2006, he took
up independent journalism through the Cubanacán Press Agency, where he
was later made Managing Editor.

From Cubanet
3 September 2013

Source: "Vacationers Infected with Cholera in Caibarién, Cuba / Yoel
Espinosa Medrano | Translating Cuba" -
http://translatingcuba.com/vacationers-infected-with-cholera-in-caibarien-cuba-yoel-espinosa-medrano/