Cuban Free Medical Guild: "The Island's health system is not prepared for the Oropouche virus"

Miguel Ángel Ruano, president of the Free Cuban Medical Guild, has gained access to a letter that the Ministry of Health of Cuba has sent to the directors and heads of postgraduate departments on the island warning that the current epidemiological situation could become "more complex." The Ministry of Health refers to the increase in episodes of "nonspecific" fever that have occurred in Santiago de Cuba and that the official press has had to acknowledge. The issue is that Ruano believes that "the health system is not prepared to face" this epidemic of Oropouche in the largest of the Antilles, and the lack of resources could lead to many of these infections developing into meningitis or encephalitis, much more serious.

In fact, in the letter to the postgraduate authorities, Professor José Luis Aparicio Suárez, Director General of Medical Education, acknowledges that "currently there are no vaccines or specific antiviral medications available to treat OROV infection." Hence, the recommended treatment approach focuses on palliative care, "aimed at relieving pain, rehydrating the patient, and controlling any vomiting that may occur."

Likewise, it warns that in those situations where "the disease presents in a neuroinvasive manner, hospitalization of the patient in specialized units that allow constant monitoring will be necessary."

In an interview granted to CiberCuba, Miguel Ángel Ruano, a Cuban doctor residing in Colombia, explained that in his letter to the department heads, Dr. José Luis Aparicio Suárez talks about the need to prepare the department's staff, given the alert from the Pan American Health Organization regarding outbreaks of the Oropouche virus (OROV), which is transmitted through the bite of the Culicoides paraensis midge and the Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito.

According to the document obtained by CiberCuba and sent to the Free Cuban Medical Guild by its affiliates on the island, we would be talking about an incubation period of 5 to 7 days, during which patients experience high fever, headache with photophobia, myalgias, arthralgias, and in some cases, rashes. "In certain patients, symptoms may be more severe and include vomiting and hemorrhages," insists the letter which clarifies that the infection can last from 2 to 3 weeks.

It also admits that "in exceptional situations" OROV can cause meningitis and encephalitis, and in these cases patients show symptoms such as dizziness, lethargy, nystagmus, and neck stiffness. As usual, the virus can be detected in the cerebrospinal fluid.

Finally, it addresses vector control measures that focus "on reducing mosquito populations by identifying and eliminating the breeding and resting sites of the vectors."