In addition to infants, those over 65 and those with diabetes or heart disease are at high risk
14ymedio, Havana, September 30, 2025 — This Tuesday, the US Embassy in Havana issued a health alert for anyone who wants to travel to Cuba due to the outbreak of Chikungunya throughout the entire island. The risk is determined at Level 2, which requires “extra precautions.”
In its statement, issued in English and Spanish, the diplomatic headquarters warns that this virus is transmitted by mosquitoes, and that symptoms, mainly fever and joint pain, appear between three and seven days after the bite.
Other symptoms, they indicate, may be headaches or rashes. “Most people recover within a week; however, some may experience severe joint pain for months or years after such an acute illness.” There is no specific treatment for Chikungunya, and, although death from this disease is rare, newborns infected at the time of delivery are at risk of suffering a more serious illness. Therefore, pregnant women are asked to “reconsider” traveling to the Island.
The media of that province added to this risk another one that the Washington Embassy does not mention: dengue fever
In addition to infants, people over 65 and those with diabetes or heart disease are also at risk.
The US Embassy publishes this alert days after the Matanzas press issued its own for the territory, because of “the high incidence of chikungunya.” The media of that province added to this risk another one that the Washington Embassy does not mention: dengue fever. Both viruses are caused from bites by mosquitoes of the genus Aedes Aegypti.
Then, Andrés Lamas Acevedo, director of the Provincial Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in Matanzas, denied that there was a mysterious disease in Cárdenas, after weeks of reports by communities that were decimated by a condition that those sickened described as “very debilitating” and that “causes joint inflammation, high fever and general discomfort.”
The official specified that the viruses recorded were dengue (serotypes 3 and 4), Chikungunya and, to a lesser extent, Oropouche. However, the lack of reagents in crowded polyclinics means that many patients go through the disease without knowing for sure what they have. Washington’s focus on Chikungunya sheds light.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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