The symptoms that affect the entire country do not correspond to an arbovirus but to a respiratory disease similar to Covid
14ymedio, Havana, November 30, 2025 — Cuba is experiencing a wave of febrile diseases which, according to the Ministry of Public Health, are mainly due to an outbreak of chikungunya. However, on social networks the official diagnosis is discussed with growing mistrust, while reports of severe clinical episodes, unexpected deaths and symptoms that, according to many doctors and patients, do not fit with the usual description of arboviruses proliferate.
The publications of Dr. Reinaldo Verona Bonce, from Ciego de Ávila, who has worked for decades in tropical medicine, have catalyzed a conversation that, in a few hours, spread throughout the island. In an extensive analysis published on Facebook, the author states that “the lethality present in our country is incompatible with historical records” of chikungunya, and the current transmission patterns “deny the epidemiology of the arboviruses.”
A particularly worrisome point in the debate is the unusual severity of symptoms in children, which several doctors consider to be incompatible with a typical chikungunya outbreak. “My son was in therapy with bronchopneumonia and shortness of breath. What does a mosquito have to do with this clinical picture? I also saw babies with the same,” warned Karina Silveira after her son’s hospitalization. For Dr. Verona Bonce, the occurrence of critical cases in newborns and adolescents “is unprecedented in Caribbean arboviruses.”
The doctor says that, while the medical literature describes chikungunya as a generally benign virus — with a mortality rate of only 0.1% — in Ciego de Ávila, “daily mortality has increased from an average of 12 to 14 people to 34 in 24 hours.” At the same time, he denounces the absence of conclusive diagnostic tests: “Without PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests to detect the cause, there is no possible diagnosis,” he insists.
The doctor particularly questions the speed at which the disease has spread. “Female mosquitos cannot make an entire country sick in weeks. Whole families become infected in unison, and you get sick if you visit a patient. One vector does not explain this,” he wrote, referring to the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
“The spread, contagion and severity are more consistent with a respiratory virus than with an arbovirus”
The recurrence of symptoms in people who had already suffered chikungunya is another point that worries doctors and citizens. The medical literature indicates that this virus usually generates lasting immunity, with relapses considered exceptional. However, several users describe the opposite. “I am seeing that people who already were in remission now present again with the virus when they should have immunity. This leaves many questions,” wrote Neyda Nocedo, a Cuban who worked in Venezuela during previous outbreaks.
Other health professionals have begun to express similar doubts. Marisabel Delgado Quintero, a doctor at the Antonio Luaces Iraola General Hospital, comments: “The spread, contagion and severity coincide more with a respiratory virus than with an arbovirus. No mask has been recommended, nor distancing; nor was the initial outbreak contained in Matanzas.” In her opinion, the scenario greatly resembles the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hypotheses about a possible respiratory pathogen –or the simultaneous circulation of several viruses — are not new, but they have gained strength due to lack of official information. Dr. Verona Bonce himself points out that there is no feedback between the Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine and the provinces, and that the results of dengue tests are neither confirmed nor explained.
Among the most controversial theories is the one posted on social media by Ulises Camacho, who asked people “not to be scandalized” by his approach: “It is necessary to review the long-term effects of all the Covid vaccines that were applied hastily in Cuba.” In his view, the fact that the current epidemic appears to be concentrated exclusively on the island –with no similar outbreaks elsewhere in the Caribbean or Latin America — would indicate that “there must be a very specific factor causing this only here.” His words sparked an intense discussion. While some users appreciated that “someone mentioned the issue,” others recalled that there is no scientific evidence linking vaccines to the current outbreak, and they warned of the risk of turning uncertainty into unfounded suspicions.
Beyond the scientific debate, hundreds of users have shared their personal experiences. Many describe prolonged symptoms, relapses, severe joint inflammation, generalized rash and, in some cases, difficulty breathing or severe pneumonia.
Daniela, a young woman from Havana, recounts: “I had a fever of 39 [102.2 F], swollen lymph nodes, a bulge in my groin, pain in my wrists and heels, a rash from my face to my feet. I had no respiratory symptoms. A friend of my mom’s got the same and died three days later from ‘pneumonia’.”
The variety of symptoms fuels a sense of uncertainty. No one knows exactly what is circulating, and the health system, already hit by shortages and lack of staff, is not offering answers. Many patients claim that they were sent home without diagnostic tests and without a clear clinical diagnosis.
Concern increases in communities where several deaths were reported within a few days. In Holguín, Leyza Beatriz Lorenzo, laments the death of two girls: “No one says anything; there are neither alerts nor a quarantine. That’s what they should be doing now.”
“They gave the virus a name, but I don’t think anyone knows what it is”
Another report comes from Mayabeque. Herminia Santana, a funeral home worker, describes a continuous flow of burials: “We haven’t had any relief for more than a week. Even with Covid, we didn’t see this.” Reporters from 14ymedio have been able to corroborate this by visiting cemeteries and funeral homes, where they have noted a much larger influx than usual.
In Ciego de Ávila, a doctor comments anonymously that hospitals “are full of children and adults with fulminant pneumonia and arrhythmias,” and the current protocols “do not respond to the picture we are seeing.”
These experiences do not confirm a real increase in mortality, since the government does not publish transparent statistics, but they do reveal a social perception of the crisis. The lack of transparency of the Ministry of Health has created a vacuum that is filled with speculation. Dr. Verona Bonce himself warns that his hypotheses do not seek to generate political alarm but to call for medical logic: “The idiots come out saying that this is the fault of imperialism. It’s science, reasoning. If three months ago there had been a quarantine in Matanzas, this would have been prevented.”
What is clear is that the disease affects a huge percentage of the population. In Los Palos, Mayabeque, Rosita Betancourt describes a bleak picture: “Here, 90% of us have the virus. I have been in unbearable pain since October 12. I went to the doctor, and without a test they told me it was the virus.”
The general frustration is summed up in the comment of Maguy Díaz, who has been sick for 12 days: “They gave a name to the virus, but I think nobody knows what it is.”
While the government maintains a uniform message — “it’s chikungunya”– the citizen debate shows an epidemic that behaves like nothing Cuba has seen before, in a country with a weakened health system and public confidence at historic lows. Dr. Verona Bonce closes one of his messages with a phrase that is now repeated throughout the island: “Everything speaks in favor of a person-to-person contagion. Not by a vector. So what are we talking about?”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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