Ecobreves – CUBA: War on Dengue

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

HAVANA, Jun 16 2007 (IPS) - A campaign to clean up streets and homes across Cuba was aimed at eliminating breeding grounds for the Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that carries dengue. The operation, Jun. 8-10, was backed by the pro-government Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), and included picking up garbage, cleaning out gardens and patios, and eliminating dumping grounds.

The heavy rains and higher temperatures of this time of year contribute to the proliferation of the mosquito. “But the biggest danger is in our own homes, where all it takes is an open container with water to have an infestation site,” Rosario Fernández, head of the CDR campaign in her neighborhood, told Tierramérica.

Official information about the disease is limited. Vice President Carlos Lage says there is no dengue in Cuba. The last epidemic occurred between June 2001 and March 2002.