14ymedio, Havana, 3 March 2016 – A second case of Zika has been diagnosed in Cuba, according to a report on primetime television news. The patient is a licensed nurse, 52, who recently returned from Tachira, Venezuela, and who resides in the city of Manzanillo, in Granma province.
The official press stressed that this is the “second imported case of patient confirmed with the Zika virus” and that she arrived in the island on 23 February. That same day she presented “skin rash accompanied by itching, swelling and pain in the left hand,” the report said.
On 25 February the Cuban aid worker was admitted to the Celia Sanchez Hospital and a “sample taken to isolate the Zika virus” was sent to the Pedro Kouri Institute. At the same time, every “action of epidemiological and vector control established for these cases,” was taken.
This Wednesday the lab confirmed that the samples tested positive for the Zika virus. Currently the patient, whose name has not been revealed, is in good condition and symptom free.
Cuba’s Ministry of Public Health reported this week on the first case of the Zika virus detected on the island. It is a Venezuelan doctor, 28, who arrived on 21 February from the Venezuelan state of Aragua for a postgraduate course in gastroenterology.
In late February, Raul Castro announced a plan of action to deal with the Zika, dengue and chikungunya viruses, including the mobilization of 9,000 troops from the Armed Forces and 200 police to fight the Aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits these diseases.
