The healthcare deterioration affecting Cuba, which has left the population devastated by outbreaks of dengue, oropouche, and chikungunya, now adds new evidence of the collapse of the health system: the increase in reports of hepatitis in the province of Las Tunas, including several cases in schools.
According to a report from local television, the healthcare system in Tunero confirmed the presence of the disease and its spread to school environments.
Dr. Aldo Cortés González, provincial deputy director of Epidemiology, explained that hepatitis “is a common illness, but it can proliferate when hygienic and sanitary regulations are violated or when there are environmental aggressions.”
The official urged to strengthen personal and collective hygiene measures in light of the virus's spread.
"I should not go to work with hepatitis; I must wash my hands frequently, especially after using the bathroom or handling food," said Cortés González, who stated that the Ministry of Public Health "maintains surveillance and adopts alternative measures for controlling the disease."
Although the official asked for "trust" in the health authorities, the message comes amid a structural crisis characterized by a lack of medications, overloaded hospitals, and the proliferation of garbage dumps and sewer discharges throughout the country, conditions that favor the spread of infectious diseases.
Additionally, the alert comes alongside another: the danger of tropical storm Melissa whose future trajectory keeps the regime and the population on edge, in addition to potentially complicating the hygiene situation in the country.
So far, no official figures have been provided regarding the number of confirmed cases, but the television report itself warned that the disease "is already present in community and school settings."
The emergence of this new outbreak raises health alarms across Cuba, where mosquito-borne viruses, environmental pollution, and a lack of resources have turned public health into one of the greatest victims of the national decline.
The official acknowledgment that cases of hepatitis have been reported in Las Tunas, even in schools, comes just a few days after the local government urged heightened health measures and denied "rumors" of cases of the disease among the population.
"Given the concern of the residents of Tunero and the dissemination on various social media profiles regarding a supposed outbreak of hepatitis," Dr. Aldo Cortés González, deputy director of the Provincial Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology, and Microbiology, provided statements to the Periódico 26, as reported by the provincial government site, where he informed that the health surveillance system detected “cases with probable symptoms of hepatitis” in the areas of the Manuel (Piti) Fajardo and Aquiles Espinosa polyclinics, in the main municipality, which “are currently under investigation.”
Similarly, in August, an outbreak of hepatitis affected the Border Brigade in Guantánamo, specifically in the Eastern Battalion, where most of the soldiers are newly recruited adolescents, according to complaints that highlighted the seriousness of a situation that military authorities attempted to silence.
This situation recently led to the United States Embassy in Havana issuing a new health alert directed at its citizens, following the rise in hepatitis A cases in the Cuban capital, warning that the risk of contagion increases due to deficiencies in water and sanitation systems.
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