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A Cuban mother, lying next to her youngest son as they both suffer from chills and tremors, recounted in a video posted on Facebook her dramatic experience after contracting what she describes as the "virus."
The woman showed her son’s body shaking uncontrollably and stated that neither of them can get out of bed due to the pain.
"It hurts from the tip of my big toe to my head. It causes intense pain with chills and tremors," he expressed, filled with a sense of helplessness and concern.
Without clarity on what illness she suffers from, the mother described symptoms such as swelling in the hands and feet, intense tremors, and a complete inability to move.
He claims he hasn't had a fever and ruled out a mosquito-borne infection, as neither of them has been bitten.
"This has to spread from person to person... It has an incubation process," he commented.
The moment of greatest frustration in his testimony came when he reflected on the lack of medications in Cuba.
"Fortunately, we have medication, but what about those who don’t have any pills?" he said, aware that his temporary relief depends on something that millions of Cubans can no longer obtain: a simple painkiller.
The anguish she conveyed in that moment illustrates the situation of a country where falling ill is almost a sentence of condemnation.
An epidemic that the government can no longer hide
The testimony of this mother comes as Cuba faces an active epidemic of chikungunya and dengue, a crisis that affects nearly the entire country and has already forced authorities to admit that they do not have control over the situation.
More than a hundred people remain in intensive care with complications related to these diseases, the majority of whom are minors. Among them are infants, although the Ministry of Health is not even able to specify their ages.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, the Deputy Minister of Public Health, Carilda Peña García, acknowledged that the government does not have exact figures on how many patients there are.
Diagnoses are being made clinically, as PCR tests are reserved only for "selected cases." The country does not know exactly how many people are infected, nor how large the outbreak is.
What is clear is that the number of people with feverish symptoms is increasing, that the virus is spreading, and that Cuba has no means to stop it.
Without fumigation, without staff, with collapsed hospitals
The deputy minister also acknowledged that the State can no longer fumigate as it used to because it lacks sufficient fuel, insecticides are scarce, and the machines are virtually destroyed.
There are provinces where even the minimum level of vector control is not being met due to a lack of workforce. Authorities acknowledge that "if the mosquito is not eliminated, it will be very difficult to control the epidemic," yet at the same time, they announce that they cannot do so.
The consequence is a country where hospitals receive thousands of fever cases but lack basic supplies, while dozens of critically ill children are treated in dilapidated and overcrowded wards.
The risk of dying from an illness that should be treatable becomes a reality in a healthcare system that no longer guarantees medications, lacks diagnostic capacity, and is devoid of resources to prevent contagion.
Meanwhile, the government continues to appeal to individual responsibility.
His message to the public is that they must cover containers and eliminate breeding sites. However, the mosquito moves faster than any Cuban with a bucket of water that isn’t chlorinated and without medications to reduce a fever.
A sick and adrift citizenship
The video of the mother and her bedridden son is not just a reflection of two sick individuals. It is the image of an entire country: paralyzed by illness, trembling from pain, and pleading for basic medications that are no longer accessible to most.
His question - "And what about those who don't have any pills?" - encapsulates the inequality, neglect, and despair that today define the lives of millions of Cubans.
Because while the viruses spread uncontrollably, the state admits that it cannot fight them. And in that confession, what is revealed is not only the epidemic but also a healthcare system that is collapsing without anyone to support it.
In Cuba, falling ill is no longer a risk: it's Russian roulette.
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