Cholera Spreads in Cuba

Cuba's Public Health Ministry acknowledged 51 new cases of cholera in Havana, amid growing concern about the disease's spread and frustration among diplomats over the government's lack of transparency.

The ministry said no one had died in the latest outbreak, which began January 6, and insisted preventive measures had the disease "on the way to extinction." Cholera was first detected in the capital's Cerro neighborhood before spreading elsewhere, with unconfirmed reports of cases in Playa, the district housing many foreign embassies.

The death the ministry did not count

The family of 46-year-old Ubaldo Pino Rodriguez told reporters he died of cholera in Cerro on January 2, about two weeks after going to hospital with severe vomiting. His sister said he had a drinking problem and lived in squalid conditions in a makeshift wooden dwelling, assumed his illness was the drink, and left the hospital of his own accord. After his death, she said, authorities sealed his room and told her to burn his belongings.

The government did not respond to requests for comment and made no experts available.

Why cholera in Cuba matters

Cholera is a waterborne bacterial disease that kills through dehydration within hours but is easily treatable if caught early. It is unusual in Cuba, which prides itself on its public-health system. But neighboring Haiti's post-earthquake epidemic had killed more than 7,200 people, and Cuba had already suffered its own outbreak in August 2012: 417 sickened and three dead around Manzanillo in Granma province. Some speculated the disease regained its footing after Hurricane Sandy devastated eastern Cuba that October, damaging more than 200,000 homes.

The tourism problem

Tourism was the top sector of Cuba's struggling economy: 2.8 million visitors a year and about $2.5 billion in revenue. A cholera outbreak was the last thing Havana wanted advertised. Several European diplomats said they were considering travel advisories, speaking anonymously because they were not authorized to talk publicly. No tourists had been reported ill.

Cuba's civil-defense machinery, brigades fumigating door to door, health centers requiring shoe disinfection in chlorine trays, schools drilling hand-washing, swung into action. The state newspaper Granma carried the ministry's statement, which mentioned no cases outside Havana.

FAQ

How many cases were acknowledged? 51 new cases in Havana, in an outbreak that began January 6, 2013.

Did anyone die? The ministry said no; one family reported a cholera death on January 2 that was not in the official count.

Why is cholera unusual in Cuba? Cuba's public-health system had kept it at bay for decades; the 2012-2013 outbreaks followed Haiti's epidemic and Hurricane Sandy's devastation.

Was tourism affected? European diplomats weighed travel advisories; no tourist cases were reported.

The takeaway

Havana's cholera outbreak was a medical problem wrapped in a transparency problem. The disease was treatable; the government's instinct to minimize it was the harder contagion to cure.