Concerns abate over cholera outbreak in Cuba

| 17/09/2013

(CNS): Acting Medical Officer of Health Dr Samuel Williams is continuing to remind visitors to Cuba to follow basic cholera prevention guidelines and to advise anyone returning from the neighbouring country to contact a doctor immediately if they develop diarrhoea within five days of their return. But with no further official reports concerning the Cholera outbreak in Havana, concerns are abating. According to the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are no new cases and no travel restrictions are in place. 

Chances of a cholera outbreak in the Cayman Islands remain very low as the islands have modern water and sewage treatment systems. 

Cholera is an acute intestinal infection that is the result of ingesting contaminated food or water. It causes rapid watery diarrhoea that leads to severe dehydration. But according to WHO figures, up to 80 percent of cases can be treated successfully with oral rehydration salts. The disease is spread through water which may be tainted by the faeces of infected persons or by untreated sewage. Food can be contaminated by using this tainted water or by being handled by someone who has cholera.

Tips for Prevention

Travellers to Cuba can greatly reduce the risk of contracting the disease by following these practices:

  • Drink only bottled, boiled or chemically-treated water and/or bottled or canned beverages.
  • Ensure that seals are unbroken when using bottled drinks.
  • Disinfect your own water: boil for one minute or filter the water and add two drops of household bleach or half an iodine tablet per litre of water.
  • Use bottled, boiled or chemically-treated water to wash dishes and brush teeth.
  • Use ice in your drink only if you know it was made from boiled or treated water.
  • Wash your hands often with soap and clean water.
  • Clean your hands before you eat or prepare foods, and after using the bathroom.
  • Eat foods that have been thoroughly cooked and are still hot, or fruit that you have peeled yourself.
  • Cook all vegetables. Do not eat salads or other raw vegetables.
  • Do not buy food or beverages from street vendors.
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  1. Anonymous says:

    Wow really? Do you think it's only "Cubans" going to Cuba?

  2. Just Sayin' says:

    There's worse things than cholera that can be caught in Cuba. 

  3. Anonymous says:

    All these dam idiots who wont keep their as.es from out of Cuba please have them under quarantine on their return and let them pay a fee. They are going to bring this bloody thing to Cayman. Please Mr Mose we are asking you to do something about this. If there was an emmergency to visit Cuba but only for a pleasure trip and to come back and endanger our lives. Please do something about this even if it means pulling Cayman Airways out of Cuba. In the long run it will be worth the money that you will loose now. If those Cubans who cant stay away from Cuba then let them return for good.

    • Anonymous says:

      I am going to fly to Cuba for a dirty weekend to spite this poster.

      • Anonymous says:

        Please make sure you wear a condom when you come back to avoid infecting us all.

        • Anonymous says:

          You were at the front of the queue when God gave out sense of humor.  Shame you then had to hold the door open and let everyone else go before you.

    • Anonymous says:

      Cholera doesn't spread via person-to-person transmission;  it is infectuous, but not contagious between people.    It isn't communicable via a sick person.    I've run out of ways to say it.    No, wait, there's one more:    You're safe "these dam idiots", at least insofar as Cholera is concerned.   

      • Anonymous says:

        So when the cook with dirty hands contaminates your food at a restaurant that's not people-to-people transmission? Same kind of transmission as hepatitis A–eating something contaminated with poop.