An alarming infestation of bed bugs has kept patients and healthcare staff at the Gustavo Machín Psychiatric Hospital, "Jagüa," in Santiago de Cuba on edge for months.
"For the past five months, they have been trying to eliminate it and have not found any solution to this plague," relatives of people admitted to the medical center reported, according to a report by the journalist Yosmany Mayeta, who published photos showing the severity of the epidemiological problem at the hospital."
Many hospital facilities and educational centers in the country are suffering from this epidemic, and the government does not provide pesticides for their complete eradication," Mayeta warned in a post on Facebook this Tuesday.
The reporter called on the authorities and the Provincial Health Directorate of Santiago de Cuba to "solve this problem that affects all people who go to emergency rooms or are admitted to the city's hospitals."
Just a few days ago, news broke of a serious bed bug outbreak at the nursing home in Manzanillo, located in the province of Granma, where 165 elderly individuals live.
The report was made by relatives of the inmates, who have been suffering the consequences of this infection for months. Despite the fact that the plague has been reported to all institutions in the municipality and the province, including Public Health, the Government, the Party, and the Directorate of Hygiene and Epidemiology, the authorities have not taken any effective action to solve the problem.
About three months ago, in the province of Santiago de Cuba, a bedbug infestation kept residents of a neighborhood in the main city on alert, as they reported the lack of government attention to eradicate the insects.
In the last year, outbreaks of bed bugs have been reported in schools and health centers in the eastern part of the country, especially in the two provinces mentioned and Holguín.
The bed bug, known popularly as Cimex lectularius, is a hemipteran insect of the family Cimicidae that feeds on the blood of humans and other warm-blooded animals.
These small insects are brown in color, flat, and difficult to detect because they easily travel in personal items like clothes and luggage. When they find a place to nest, they reproduce alarmingly quickly, making their spread easier. They tend to inhabit mattresses, sofas, and other furniture.
Generally, they bite at night while people are sleeping. According to medical literature, the symptoms of their bites vary from person to person and can include skin irritation, redness, and a sensation of intense itching. They can also lead to allergic reactions, such as worsening asthma, hives, and other significant inflammatory responses, usually associated with red welts that cause a stinging sensation. These signs typically appear the day after the bite.
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