Cuba offers an integrated package against dengue fever, which takes the environmental and social aspects of the disease into consideration, an official from the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Thursday.

Speaking at the Tenth International Course on Dengue Fever, Guadalupe Guzman, director of the PAHO Collaborating Center for Dengue Fever, lauded the power of Cuba's project, which includes clinical and biological methods and the participation of the community.

Cuba has a vast experience in controlling that virus in the Caribbean Island and other Latin American regions, the doctor recalled at the meeting, which is being held at the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute (IPK) in Havana.

At present, Cuba is carrying out collaboration programs in the area, providing technical advisory to the region's ministries of health to control, monitor and diagnose the disease.

Cuba's activity in Latin America is very broad, as it ranges from direct medical care to patients suffering from dengue fever to providing technical advice on research, diagnosis, professional training and the participation in groups of experts, Guzman explained.

Among the latest projects, she said, is a research work on hemorrhagic dengue fever, carried out by experts from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Brazil.

Moreover, Cuba is working along with Honduras and Guatemala on a research work to strengthen those country's capacities through the PAHO, pointed out Dr. Guzman, who is also the director of the IPK Virology Department.

Parallel to the course, which will close on August 17 at the IPK, meetings of the PAHO and the World Health Organization are being held in Cuba to discuss and reach agreements on the newest and most effective ways to fight and control dengue fever.

Besides, the Symposium "25 Years' Experience in Fighting Dengue Fever" is being held until August 11 at the IPK.

Source: Prensa Latina