Health authorities in the western Cuban province of Artemisa denied the existence of cases of cholera and monkeypox in hospitals in the territory, according to official media reports.
Audios recently circulated through WhatsApp about alleged cases of monkeypox in the Iván Portuondo Hospital, in the municipality of San Antonio de los Baños, according to a note in the local newspaper El Artemiseño.
However, Odalis Valdés, director of that hospital, clarified that there is no case of the disease, nor are any suspected patients reported at the center, the information points out, replicated by other media outlets on the island.
The official explained that prevention work is being carried out in the health institution not only for dengue or COVID-19. “Promotional actions are being carried out in the wards, which may have led to a misunderstanding of some companion or patient with the use of the mask or the washing of hands, that is, hygienic-epidemiological measures,” she explained.
This, however, does not mean that there are cases of monkeypox in the hospital, Valdés assured. “We don’t even have suspected cases. We do not have that incidence, we are simply taking measures to prevent all diseases that can be contagious,” she added.
In turn, Osmany Pérez, director of public health in the Artemisa municipality of Güira de Melena, also denied comments about the existence of cases of monkeypox and fulminant cholera in that territory, the information specifies.
Regarding monkeypox, he noted that in Güira de Melena there are 30 contacts of a positive case of this disease detected in the neighboring province of Havana, although he specified that “all are asymptomatic, isolated at home and periodically evaluated by the health professionals of the territory.”
“One of the 30 is a direct contact, and the established protocols are already applied, but with a similar state of health to the rest,” Pérez pointed out, according to El Artemiseño, while also clarifying that no cases or suspects of fulminant cholera are reported in the municipality.
The Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) recently confirmed that the number of people infected in the country with the monkeypox virus had risen to eight, most of them detected in Havana.
The data was revealed this week during the usual meeting between Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and health experts who address, among other issues, the monitoring of dengue and COVID-19. Until then, only four cases had been reported on the island.
The most recent of these corresponded to a 26-year-old health worker from the province of Cienfuegos, who had direct contact with the third case, from that same territory.
Previously, the infection of a 27-year-old woman and those of a 60-year-old Cuban resident in the United States, and a 50-year-old Italian tourist had been reported. The latter died days after testing positive for the disease in Cuba.
