Medical official denies cholera spread across Cuba

(Jamaica Gleaner) The national director of epidemiology Dr Manuel Santin Peña has said the cholera outbreak in south-eastern Cuba has not spread to other parts of the island.

Dr Pena also denied that the Cuban government lied about the number of cases of the illness. He said the few cases outside Granma were people who had been in the province.

Provincial health officials in Granma said the outbreak was under control and that the number of people hospitalized with cholera-like symptoms dropped from 81 to 67.

Confirmed cholera cases in the same period rose from 118 to 126. Officials say 96 of the cases were reported in the Granma city of Manzanillo, as it takes laboratories a week or more to confirm the diagnosis.