More Cholera in Eastern Cuba

HAVANA TIMES — Cuban health authorities acknowledged last week a new outbreak of cholera in the eastern province of Granma, with nine confirmed cases, reported the Café Fuerte website from information from public television in that province.

Diarrheal diseases have increased in that province, reported Deputy Health Minister Luis Estruch, who traveled to the site with a delegation that included Ramon Pardo Guerra, who is the head of Civil Defense and a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.

Meanwhile, Ana Maria Batista Gonzalez, from the Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in Granma, said the cholera is being controlled but that the bacteria is “still circulating,” especially in the municipalities of Manzanillo, Yara, Niquero, Bayamo and Bartolome Maso.

On August 28, the Cuban Ministry of Public Health had declared the cholera outbreak over. To date there have been 417 confirmed cases, with three deaths.