HAVANA, Cuba, CMC – The Cuban Government is stepping up preventive measures in the face of a second wave of the A(H1N1) flu that has killed 41 people and infected about 1000.
“So far there are 1000 confirmed (cases). There could be more but only those backed by a sample of the virus are approved as official data,” Public Health Vice Minister Luis Estruch said.
But Estruch who is in charge of hygiene, epidemiology and microbiology in the ministry said that no country could afford to test all people suspicious of the virus since the analysis of every sample costs about US$100.
He emphasized that if the disease is treated in time, there is no danger for life due to the resources of the country, hospital capacities, therapy service, oxygenation, antibiotics and other medicines.
The Minister recalled that the first cases in Cuba were detected in May with the return of three Mexican students to classes. He said that by September the disease had appeared all over the country, more deeply on the western side of the island.
As part of the Cuban strategy to face the flu, Estruch mentioned special care of pregnant women and disabled children, the most vulnerable groups of the population.
He also called on officials to intensify ports and airport searches with the mass entry of tourists from December to February and the return of Cuban collaborators from abroad and foreign scholarships.
Respectable.