Public Health Minister, Jose Angel Portal

Havana, September 14 (RHC)-- Dengue fever is now present in all Cuban provinces, but its transmission rate has decreased in the last four weeks, reported the Minister of Public Health.

José Ángel Portal explained that this result is due to the intensive actions developed in the municipalities at higher risk.

However, the incidence rate of suspected cases increased in general in the country concerning the previous week.

"This was fundamentally caused by the behavior of this indicator in eight territories," Portal said, according to Granma newspaper.

He pointed out the importance of reviewing the effectiveness of the actions being carried out because, despite the complexity that these months imply for the disease, measures must decrease the spread from one week to the previous one.

Dr. Eric Martinez from the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute explained that this disease entails more risks for children and adolescents than for adults.

He insisted that the main epidemiological criterion to be followed for its treatment is to consider a possible case of dengue every child coming from or residing in an area with dengue transmission who presents an acute febrile condition,

"Every child, when there is transmission and has a fever, has dengue fever until proven otherwise. This must be considered to avoid delays", stressed  Martínez.