Alain Gonzales fumigates a home against mosquitos Monday, Jan. 14, 2002 in the Old Havana neighborhood of Havana, Cuba. Cuba is launching a campaign in Havana against mosquitos that carry the dengue virus. (AP Photo/Jose Goitia)
Posted on 01/16/2002 6:44:51 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba began an emergency campaign over the weekend to contain the worst outbreak of potentially lethal dengue fever since 1981, but did not give figures of those infected despite widespread public concern.
Echoing a speech by President Fidel Castro two days ago, state media and government officials on Sunday hammered away at the need for Cubans to clean the streets and allow fumigation of their homes to minimize the spread of the disease.
A viral infection transmitted by mosquitoes, dengue fever is marked by high fever, rash and head, muscle and joint pain. Its most dangerous form, hemorrhagic dengue fever, can cause internal bleeding and death.
``War To The Death!'' said state daily Juventud Rebelde in a barrage of official information about the mosquitoes which transmit the disease. That contrasted with the official silence since Cubans began talking about cases 6 months ago.
State-run media said the epidemic was concentrated in Havana, although cases had been reported as of January 1 in 95 of the Caribbean nation's 165 municipalities. The last national outbreak of dengue was in 1981, killing 158 people.
More recently, there was a local outbreak in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba in 1997, but the new appearance of dengue appears more serious, given the national attention being given to it and anecdotal evidence on the streets of Havana.
``There is no alternative; the campaign has to be successful,'' Castro said, adding that most of the dengue in the country was of the milder, classic variety, though some cases had evolved into the potentially fatal hemorrhaging dengue.
He presided at a ceremony in Havana on Friday night declaring ``war'' against the insects and launching fumigation brigades made up of thousands of construction and other workers.
``I have been hearing about more and more hemorrhaging cases over the last few weeks,'' an employee at a Havana hospital said. ``If Fidel is getting involved, you know the situation is serious.''
In Havana, bulldozers could be seen over the weekend clearing rubble and garbage from streets as two-man fumigation teams misted homes to kill the insects.
The fact is that Mosquitoes breed and proliferate in stagnant bodies of water. Stagnant pools of water may consist of puddles, tanks, ponds and wetlands.
Yes, even certain stagnant areas of wetlands present a health hazard to the community. They will need to be sprayed to kill the larva of Mosquitoes. And it may be wise to fill in those wetlands to prevent the deaths of humans in the future. Earth to environmental rocket scientists. Wake up!
The draining of swamps in populated areas is a hallmark of civilization.
What good is medical care in paradise, if you can't get it?
Democrat Good Democrat
Hope this helps folks...
Cuba Wages Offensive on 'Over-Sized' Houses -- [Excerpt] ``The day money is the factor behind distribution of the nation's properties is the day we will be divided into social classes. We will not allow that,'' said Juan Contino, who heads the movement of Cuba's state-affiliated neighborhood groups, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR).
The CDRs are encouraged to keep a lookout for property ''irregularities'' and make denunciations where appropriate. ``We are the good neighbors, those who have to go out and warn people 'you're making a gigantic house','' Contino said.
The housing offensive has spread terror among the numerous Cubans who have in recent times carried out home extensions or ''permutas'', or used their houses for illegal purposes. **(like trying to surivive)**
``They've destroyed my life. They say my house is 'over-sized' and I don't know where this is going to end,'' said one Cuban resident, whose repairs brought threatening inspectors' visits. ``They take my house away, I have nowhere to go.'' [End Excerpt]
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