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Subscribe to RSSHAVANA, Cuba - Cholera has killed three people and sickened another 85 in Cuba, according to a government official, although the number of those dead could be as high as 15, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
A handful of unconfirmed cases have also cropped up in the town of Caimanera, a town next to the U.S.'s Guantanamo Bay detention camp, according Miami-based Spanish-language newspaper El Nuevo Herald.
Two of the young stars in the much talked about film "Una Noche," about three Cuban teens trying to escape, have gone missing and believed to have defected to the U.S. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
The outbreak was caused by contaminated well water, the Cuban government said.
The government blamed recent heavy rains and high temperatures for the water problems, which forced the closure of some wells and the chlorination of the water system in the hardest hit areas.
More about infectious diseases
The Public Health Ministry said in a statement that the township of Mazanillo in the southeast province of Granma had suffered the most cholera cases, which have occurred in the last few weeks, but that the outbreak is slowing.
Frustration over the slow response to Haiti's cholera outbreak erupted into violence for a second day on Tuesday. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
The government confirmed that three people -- who ranged in age from 66 to 95 and suffered from other, chronic health problems -- had died.
Cholera outbreaks have been rare, or at least not publicized, in Cuba since the 1959 revolution and the creation of a national health system by the communist government.
Cholera causes intestinal problems and can lead to death if not treated promptly and properly.
Cuba has touted its medical role in nearby Haiti, where Cuban doctors and nurses have worked since that country's 2010 earthquake to, among other things, contain a cholera outbreak that has killed more than 7,000 people.
It is not unusual for Cubans to complain that the government sends too many of its doctors abroad to earn money for the country and promote its humanitarian image, leaving its own national health system short of qualified personnel and medicines.
Cuba's health ministry said it has the "resources necessary for the adequate attention to patients in all the health institutions" during this cholera outbreak.
In an unusual homily, the pontiff called for free thought, and more freedom for the Catholic Church in Cuba. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.
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Now these "wonderful" people are going to start bringing this horrible decease to Florida along with everything else they bring "how wonderful".
Hey, is that this "Best Health Care system in the world" that the Communists are always talking about?
David Powell I think you are an ignorant. Outbreaks of disease happen everywhere, there is no way to be a 100% protected, just look at our own recent cholera cases.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported cholera cases in the US between 1995 and 2000. Total of 61 cases of cholera, all caused by V. cholerae O1, there was 1 death, and 35 (57%) of the patients were hospitalized. 37 (61%) infections were acquired outside the United States; 14 (23%) were acquired through undercooked seafood consumed in the US, 2 (3%) were acquired through sliced cantaloupe contaminated by an asymptomatically infected food handler, and no source was identified for 8 (13%) infections.
http://www.cdc.gov/safewater/publications_pages/2001/steinberg_2001.pdf
Also, from 2000-2010, a total of 17 persons with toxigenic V. cholerae O75 infection were reported to CDC, the numbers are greatest when the water is warm.
http://phys.org/news/2011-05-cholera-oyster-outbreak-sickens.html
Another failing communist country waiting to fall off the rock!
And just think, Hugo Chavez travels to Cuba for his cancer treatments because they have better medical facilities than Venezuela. He could use the money he spent on flying back and forth on his chartered plane to revamp the hospitals in Caracas and pay the doctors a living wage, but noooooo.
Don't put your privy too close to your well.
Isn't Cuba the land of socialized medicine and the wonderful place the bloated Michael Moore pontificated about with regards to Obama's medical boondoggle? Oh boy! I can't wait for Obama-care! What's next? Typhus, polio, yellow fever, malaria? People! Wake up!
Yes, Cuba's healthcare system is what morons like Michael Moore and the Obama-lead socialst wing of the Democratic party envision as the model for us too. Typhus with your cholera anyone?
By your analogy, socialized medicine in Cuba caused 3 to die from cholera. That means the free market healthcare system caused the 1,000 deaths in Haiti right?
Gimme a break already.
The free market healthcare system in Haiti? Do they have a healthcare sytem of any sort in Haiti?
No, you give ME a break. You are pretty much proving my point about the idiocy of seeing Cuba's healthcare system as a model for us here in the US. It looks great compared to... (wait for it)... HAITI. Oh, terrific, imagine how proud we'll all be (as we watch Grandma dying because a board of unelected "experts" decided the money would be better spent elsewhere) knowing that Obamacare puts US healthcare a notch above what is available in Haiti. Hey, on the same note, maybe we should model our banking system on what goes on in Greece!
The logic being used in this thread or lack thereof is sad. You folks on both sides need to stop letting all the politicians and talking heads brainwash you.
Cholera is not caused by a bad health care system it is caused by bad sanitation practices. We don't have Cholera problems in the US because we have some of the best sanitation practices in the world. Even our antiquated systems blow away many other developed countries systems let alone under developed ones like Cuba.
Cubas socialized health care system is not all that. Chavez would be coming to the US if he didn't have a cobb up his butt towards us. Don't fall for the disinformation on our healthcare system. It ain't perfect but how many people do you see kicked out of ER's, bleeding and dying on the streets outside of ER's? Thats right, none. Think for yourselves people, think!
Jon,
True, the Cholera is caused by Cuba's pathetic or completely missing infrastructure, not their equally pathetic healthcare system. However, I was having much too much fun poking holes in Obamacare since no one (so far) has advocated adopting Cuba's sanitation system as a model for the US. However, I am hopeful Marlen101917 or some other socialist one-worlder will speak up for that. Then the fun will really begin.
Reagan-man and others. I think you all are ignorant. Outbreaks of disease happen everywhere, there is no way to be a 100% protected, just look at our own recent cholera cases.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported cholera cases in the US between 1995 and 2000. Total of 61 cases of cholera, all caused by V. cholerae O1, there was 1 death, and 35 (57%) of the patients were hospitalized. 37 (61%) infections were acquired outside the United States; 14 (23%) were acquired through undercooked seafood consumed in the US, 2 (3%) were acquired through sliced cantaloupe contaminated by an asymptomatically infected food handler, and no source was identified for 8 (13%) infections.
http://www.cdc.gov/safewater/publications_pages/2001/steinberg_2001.pdf
Also, from 2000-2010, a total of 17 persons with toxigenic V. cholerae O75 infection were reported to CDC, the numbers are greatest when the water is warm.
http://phys.org/news/2011-05-cholera-oyster-outbreak-sickens.html
D.K.D.C. Didn't know, don't care!!
Still drinking from wells... ahh,,, the glories of the great communist system....Well,,, give them time! ,,,,, the mustard faced communist geiser says as he collects his government pension while playing chess (Stalins favorite) along the crumbling boulevard. What would you have us do ? work hard like the American fools ?
They ran out of kool-aid.
Nick Nevada the outbreak occurred in a rural area, even here in the US there are people drinking from wells in rural areas, so what the heck are you talking about?
Next thing you know cuba will start letting all the sick good for nothing people come to the USA with that BS
You are showing your true racist colors there. My wife is from Cuba you piece of trash! She is sweet, smart, friendly and probably the cleanest woman I have ever known!! She makes my American ex-wife (who sleeps with her filthy dogs) look like trailer trash.
Maybe if you heartless people in the USA withdrew the embargo on Cuba and saw them as human beings it might help. Iinstead you post ideological drivel. What did the free-market health care system in Haiti do to help the 7000+ people who have died of cholera there?
Thank Castro for the helpful free healthcare that is saving those reported to be alive.
clearly a anti cuba article, people die all the time from something, but the writer had to point out and remind us that the govt. is not an elected govt. by the people. keep your eye on WASHINTON dope heads, we only get two choices from the 1%!
Too bad one of the cholera victoms wasn't Castro.
Or you..
Or you...
People die all over the world. America should worry about america. Look at Cuba's cholera epidemic and ignore your own.
An excellent reason to keep our borders closed. Other countries don't have control of deadly diseases the way the US does. Letting Cubans and Mexicans in, without proper documentation, puts our citizens in danger. We require shots to go abroad and we should require vaccinations and physicals to those wanting to come in.
Lady! GET EDUCATED! Cubans get proper documentation and screening before they are admitted under federal law enacted on November 2, 1966 the "Cuban Adjustment Act" . as far as Cuba's Cholera outbreak. what's new ? not like the Castro royal family cares.
ok dope heads have you read the article about BLACK LUNG in the U.S.!
Just another 3rd world latin country, trying to leach off of the states. Who real cares about their problems.
Power outages....>>>>>>.Wait for what happens when the dasdard " Cap an trade" is foisted onto the nation; Obama care will seem like a gnat bite.
Lies,lies then a Jew cannot be corrupt.
Bob,
WTF?
In case anyone cares the USA is in the middle of a whooping cough crisis. The last I knew it was a Republic not a communist country.
Everyone seems pretty quick to jump on Cuba. Look in your own backyard -
TB
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had a serious warning for Florida health officials in April: A tuberculosis outbreak in Jacksonville was one of the worst it had investigated in 20 years. Linked to 13 deaths and 99 illnesses, including six children, it would require concerted action to stop.
The public was not to learn anything until early June, even though the same strain was appearing in other parts of the state.
Whooping cough
Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is a bacterial infection best known for causing a deep cough in children. They cough so long and so hard that when they can finally catch a breath, they make a distinctive "whoop" sound on the intake. So far this year, the United States has seen more than 16,000 validated cases of whooping cough, said Stacey Martin, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That's more than the 15,216 cases reported last year. The latest peak was 27,550 cases in 2010, when it killed 27 people, 25 of them babies.
"We are on track to have a record year, I think," Martin said in a telephone interview.
Pertussis has reached epidemic levels in the state of Washington, with more than 2,700 cases so far this year, and CDC is following outbreaks in 18 other states: Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Idaho, Montana, Texas, Ohio, Iowa, Missouri, Florida, Arizona, Maine, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Kansas, and Oregon.
Black Lung
From 1968 through 2007, black lung caused or contributed to roughly 75,000 deaths in the United States, according to government data. In the decades following passage of the 1969 law, rates of the disease dropped significantly. Then, in the late 1990s, this trend reversed.
Even more disturbing: Prevalence of the most severe form of the disease tripled between the 1980s and the 2000s and has almost reached the levels of the 1970s.
Not to fret. Cuba has the worlds best government health care in the world. Just ask Mikeal Moore.