Health authorities of Sancti Spiritus do not rule out the presence of the Oropouche virus in the area.

With over 500 febrile cases in the last seven days, health authorities in Sancti Spiritus stated that the Oropouche virus is not present in that province.

According to Dr. Carlos Ruiz Santos, director of the Provincial Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology, and Microbiology, a protocol very similar to that of dengue is implemented in that territory; a disease that, in turn, reported 22 cases in the last week, with a higher presence in the municipalities of Yaguajay and Trinidad, as indicated in a report by the official newspaper Escambray.

Up to now, authorities say that the confirmed cases at the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK) in Havana are of this disease and not Oropouche.

However, the alert is active because there are favorable conditions in the province for the development of the transmitting mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus.

The explanation provided by the specialist indicates that this vector "lives in weeds, in stagnant waters, and in the province there are favorable conditions."

"Recently," he added, "there has been an increase in rainfall; the area has a significant number of leaks, residual discharges, and overgrowth. There is a complex environmental situation that needs to be addressed," the official stated.

Additionally, he stated that "a number of people can enter the home, and other patients, even if they only have nonspecific fever without any serious symptoms, due to their health condition, should go to a healthcare institution."

Among them, he included patients with any warning signs, such as abdominal pain, abundant diarrhea, or other types of complex symptoms.

Ruiz Santos clarifies that the procedures to identify whether it is Oropouche or dengue are carried out in the territory itself, and "at the IPK, a real-time PCR called is set up and is being used in this case in a certain number of people."

On May 27th, the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) of Cuba confirmed the presence of cases of Oropouche fever in the province of Santiago de Cuba.

The official statement released by MINSAP indicated that following "monitoring actions and surveillance of non-specific febrile syndromes in the province of Santiago de Cuba, the presence of the Oropouche virus was identified in two Health areas of the municipalities of Santiago de Cuba (Ernesto Guevara) and Songo La Maya (Carlos J. Finlay), based on samples studied in the national reference laboratory at the Pedro Kourí Institute (IPK)".

To date, several provinces in the country have declared the presence of this disease.

Last Friday, a 22-year-old young man from Santiago de Cuba who was hospitalized with symptoms of Oropouche fever died in that locality.

Richard Daniel Nieves Chaveco, residing in the II Frente municipality, was studying for a Bachelor's degree in Pedagogy with a specialization in Geography at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Oriente, where he was in his fourth year of studies.