After months of inaction, Cuban health authorities are warning of an “exponential” rise in chikungunya and dengue.
14ymedio, Havana, November 7, 2025 — “At my workplace, 14 doctors, nurses, and staff members are recovering from the new viruses,” a worker at the Doctor Cosme Ordóñez Carceller polyclinic in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución municipality told this newspaper. “Most of my colleagues are sick,” she added, confessing to feeling “overwhelmed” by the number of daily cases she must attend to at the medical center.
Tamara Alonso, who lives in Lawton, writes to us: “Here, every family has had at least one person with the disease, at the very least. On my block, everyone had it and some are still getting it. There are three of us at home, and all three of us had it. I also have a friend who went to Vedado four days ago, and he was telling me that on 23rd Avenue, almost everyone was walking around like robots. It’s horrible during and after.”
The health crisis has the entire country on edge. The José Martí Pérez Pediatric Teaching Hospital in Sancti Spíritus has increased its capacity in response to the rise in arboviral infections in the province. They have added 20 beds to the 152 they already had, according to their general director, Ramón Aquino Lorenzo, who spoke with Escambray. The emergency room and nursing areas have also been reinforced. The doctor is urging the population “not to stay home” and “to see a doctor as soon as possible to prevent potential complications that can arise from these types of illnesses,” something Cubans are often reluctant to do, mainly due to the shortage of supplies and reagents in health centers.
The news, published this Friday in the provincial newspaper, and other reports in official media about the health emergency, reflect the authorities’ sudden concern after months of ignoring it. Adelante warned this Thursday of an “exponential” increase in Camagüey in illnesses transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, especially chikungunya and dengue. In the provincial capital, there is “a daily average of 450 people with feverish symptoms and a cumulative infestation rate of 2.16.”
The scene she describes seems straight out of the dystopian film ‘Juan of the Dead’
Clinical trials of the drug Juzvinza, intended to treat the “inflammatory joint manifestations that persist in many patients after overcoming the chikungunya infection,” also began this Thursday. Dr. Perla María Trujillo Pedroza , a specialist in Comprehensive General Medicine at the Manuel Piti Fajardo Polyclinic in Santo Domingo (Villa Clara), who had been highly critical of the authorities’ inaction in the face of the epidemic, welcomed the announcement of the trials – “Late? Yes, but something is better than nothing,” she wrote on her Facebook page – although she urged continued efforts in prevention, on which very little has been done.
Many Cubans in exile are distressed by the situation of their relatives in Cuba. “Some of my uncles in Cruces, Cienfuegos, are all bedridden,” a Cuban woman living in the US told this newspaper. “They are very elderly, 89, 91, and 94 years old. The only one still able to walk was a 69-year-old daughter, and she fell ill this week.” The scene she describes seems straight out of the dystopian film Juan of the Dead, by Cuban director Alejandro Brugués: “During the day, in the part of town where they live, there isn’t a soul in the streets. Everyone is recovering. And at night, without electricity as usual, all you hear are moans. In the silence, you can hear people lamenting their pains.”
Hurricane Melissa not only left behind broken roofs, flooding, and endless power outages, but also worsened a health situation that was already dire before the storm. Arboviruses—dengue, Zika, chikungunya, the more recent oropouche, and others not yet recognized—are no longer seasonal occurrences, but rather part of daily life in neighborhoods where water stagnates without reaching household storage tanks, garbage piles up even as the government poses for photos at “volunteer work” events, and sanitation depends more on community resourcefulness than on the management of the authorities.
The mother of Duannis León Taboada —a political prisoner from the 2021 11th July protests— reported that her son has been ill since Wednesday and has yet to receive medical attention. “My greatest fear has come true. My son is unjustly imprisoned and has been infected by this damned virus. He has a fever, is vomiting, and is in a lot of pain,” Jenni Taboada wrote. Her message conveys uncertainty and desperation: “What do they want, for him to die? I am extremely worried about my son’s life,” she concluded.
Opacity in Cuba is part of the political model. For decades, the island was a regional leader in epidemiological surveillance. Today, they talk about “outbreak control” but not about incidence rates. They claim that “reagents are available,” while patients and doctors quietly confirm that diagnoses depend on luck or on one’s connections within the healthcare system.
Arboviruses find fertile ground in a population without defenses or minimum hygiene conditions
Tamara Moisés, a resident of Santiago de Cuba, posted extensively on social media about the critical deterioration of living conditions after the hurricane, with a direct impact on the proliferation of arboviruses. According to her account, the city has been without sanitation for more than nine days, with accumulated garbage and branches, clogged sewers, and an explosion of mosquitoes and gnats. On her street, which has few houses, 17 cases of chikungunya have already been reported.
Moisés attributes the spread and severity of these diseases not only to the unsanitary environment, but also to a widespread weakening of immune systems caused by malnutrition, which she describes as “famine.” She also points to the critical shortages of food, medicine, and drinking water, as well as the endless power outages, the lack of gas for boiling water, and pharmacies without basic medications.
The testimony warns of a possible worsening of the health crisis with risks of multiple outbreaks, an increase in tuberculosis and diseases associated with malnutrition, in a context that the woman from Santiago describes as a “failed” and “inhumane” state, where arboviruses find fertile ground in a population without defenses or minimum hygiene conditions.
State media speak of “vector control battles,” “community mobilizations,” and “the people’s struggle alongside the authorities.” But these reports never include the essential details: How many people are sick? In how many municipalities? How fast are infections spreading? How many deaths are actually attributed to complications from arboviruses, and how many are simply categorized under generic clinical categories?
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.