“The fact that cholera is going in crescendo shows shortcomings, those same places that today are showing sick patients and some deceased, are the same as in 2010,” he said, also questioning the action taken by the Social Security System at that time, since today the indicators are the same and “we are worse off”. In addition, the union leader stated that they will carry out several actions in the La Zurza sector, such as a new analysis of the water to determine the particles that inhabit it, “so that the population sees the truth of the Medical College.”

The State intervened after three cases of the disease in the last sweep in various neighborhoods such as the Nuevo Domingo Sabio Project, the former La Ciénaga, and Los Guandules, as well as Capotillo, El 24 de Abril, Gualey, Simón Bolivar, and Villas Agricolas. However, according to residents of Villas Agricolas, it took them a long time to get there, and some are still unaware of the government entities’ movements in their communities to stop the cholera outbreak. Although the only cases still active in the country are in La Zurza and Villas Agricolas, where the outbreak’s first and only death occurred last Thursday, the other four locations were also intervened in over the weekend, according to Public Health.

The director of Health Area IV, Jesus Suard, confirmed that 300 people were ready to form brigades that rummaged through neighborhoods looking for suspected cases, that is, people with chronic diarrhea, vomiting, headaches, and other symptoms. Suard stated that the teams that conduct house-to-house visits also educate the population on cholera prevention, but that in most of the allegedly affected areas, people are unaware of the Ministry’s movements.

One of them is Magna Elena Ramos, who lives in San Carlos, where the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) identified two positive individuals of Haitian origin with the disease last Friday. She is concerned about the disease’s potential for harm. “It’s dangerous if you don’t attend to yourself on time, which is why you have to eat healthy and nothing from the street,” she explained.

Another resident of the sector who only eats food prepared at home José de la Rosa said that street food is the most likely to spread the disease. “You can’t get it at home, but if you eat nonsense on the streets, you’ll get it because they’re not made with the same hygiene,” he said emphatically. Santiago Nuñez, who also lives in San Carlos, has urged authorities to stop the spread of cholera to prevent more cases, particularly among children, the elderly, and people with pre-existing diseases, who are the most vulnerable to death. Similarly, the gentleman urged citizens to follow the recommendations of the health portfolio and specialists to combat the condition.

Because suspicious cases have emerged, some Villas Agricolas residents are also tightening hygiene standards to avoid being included in the bacterial condition’s statistical reports. This is what Ramón Fernández is doing, who has made washing his hands before eating and after using the restroom a daily priority to avoid contracting the disease. Similarly, Julio de Los Santos, who has lived in the neighborhood for years, stated that the population must help the government contain the contagion by taking the necessary precautions.

According to the 1,024 reports of the General Directorate of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Public Health, in the last 24 hours, 1,310 tests were performed, of which 1,292 were antigenic and another 18 were Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), of which 817 were performed for the first time, and 493 were subsequent.

216 new cases of COVID in the past 24 hours

COVID Statistics
Daily positivity levels remain at 7.47%, while that of the last four weeks stands at 10.26%, and the lethality of the virus is 0.66%, with 4,384 deaths in total, with the last death recorded over half a year ago in the month of June 2022.

Hospital occupancy also shows a decrease in statistics, as only 17 occupied beds in the COVID network and four intensive care units, while no mechanical ventilators are in use.

A communication from the entity, released through the Vice-Ministry of Collective Health and its General Directorate of Epidemiology, indicates that the patients were admitted between the 3rd and 5th of this month after presenting with watery and whitish diarrhea accompanied by vomiting.

When they were admitted to the health center, they were hydrated and stabilized, and coprological samples were immediately taken, with a positive result for cholera.

Minor returned from Haiti

The Public Health epidemiological report certifies that the four-year-old child recently returned to the country from Haiti, where he was vacationing with his mother.

According to the document, the patients have been without bowel movements for more than 24 hours, are stable, in good spirits, with a good appetite, and remain in the hospital for observation, with the possibility of discharge in the next few hours.

He added that the areas of Health, IV, and V, the Vice Ministry of Collective Health and its Epidemiological Directorate, and the Ministry’s Risk Management Directorate are maintaining epidemiological surveillance with close relatives and a permanent intervention in the areas to detect, prevent and investigate any suspected cholera.

Public Health stated that so far, there are no relatives of patients with suspected disease symptoms and urged the population not to be alarmed and to be attentive to official reports.

Holidays without cases

These new cases of cholera appeared after the authorities managed to pass the Christmas and New Year’s holidays without any suspected cases of the disease in the La Zurza sector or other nearby neighborhoods of the National District.

Sewage from sewage and toilets in La Zurza continues to be deposited in the Isabela River, despite an investment of billions of pesos in a treatment plant.

A pumping sump was built in La Zurza to collect this water and send it through a pipe placed over a bridge parallel to the Jacinto Peynado to the treatment plant inaugurated on the other side of the river.

Faced with this situation and due to the recent infections of the disease that have arisen in the community, the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) together with other organizations, placed a series of water tanks so that the municipalities have access to free water to cover their needs, but despite thanking the government for the provision, they ask the Santo Domingo Aqueduct and Sewerage Corporation (Caasd) to install pipes to make the measure more efficient.

“We hope in God that they put the key on us and that they bring us permanent water,” Toribio de la Rosa expressed. He stressed that the CAASD daily loads the containers with clean water to reduce the possibility of contagion from the virus. cholera and other pathologies in the demarcation, however, he explained that, like other neighborhoods, they want to receive the service through the system. He stated that several people in the area have been affected by diarrheal symptoms due to having contact with the pools, which according to the authorities do not have the bacteria that cause cholera but do have garbage residues that also serve as water-polluting agents.

In this sense, he declared that he is applying the recommendations given by the experts to avoid infection, especially the reinforcement of hygiene measures at home. Likewise, Mr. Edulio Amancio is doing it, who explained that since the reappearance of the disease in the town, he is being more cautious with what he eats. “One has to be careful, not eating everything and washing our hands with soap,” he stressed.

During a press conference, Estrella stated that the girl had diarrhea and vomiting due to a stomach condition she had been suffering from since December 29, which went away on its own before the mother took her to a medical center for treatment.

Her parents testified that when they transferred her to the mobile center in La Zurza on the morning of the 31st, she had spent the night vomiting, but that by 7:00 a.m., she had stopped.

“We haven’t had any new scenarios (…), perhaps one or two patients with some evacuations have appeared, but they’ve been ruled out because they haven’t been repeated, and possibly some parasitism from other causes,” he said.

He stated that while the mobile hospitals had been installed in the area for 21 days, emergencies such as hypertension and headache had been attended to. He did, however, confirm that they will remain in place until the circumstances dictate otherwise.

Public Health personnel, accompanied by Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) members, direct him to one of the tents set up by the Ministry in this sector of the Dominican capital, on the banks of the Isabela River, where the majority of the country’s ten cases of the disease have been confirmed.

Romer Castro expends his last energy to reach the provisional care center, where they begin the standard protocol for a patient with the symptoms: diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, and dehydration picture. He has taken too long to arrive for treatment, according to the health personnel of the mobile hospital, who are used to foreign patients who are afraid to go to the doctor, especially if they have irregular immigration status.

After giving him first aid, they transport him to the Moscoso Puello Hospital, accompanied by a relative and one of the doctors in charge of the case, so that the necessary tests can be performed to confirm if it is cholera, as there are other conditions, such as parasitism, that present with similar symptoms.

Santo Domingo, DR
The residents of the La Zurza sector, a locality of the National District where four new cases of cholera were confirmed almost a week ago, have had to modify their habits and take extreme hygiene measures to avoid contracting the disease.

Housewives, the elderly, and young people said they only use water from the water tanks recently installed by the Santo Domingo Aqueduct and Sewerage Corporation (CAASD) for cooking and doing their chores.

“At every certain point, there are four large water tanks that are filled twice a day and with that water we do everything, because we cannot use water from the well or from the river, due to the weeds,” said Mariela Veras, referring to the degree of contamination of the La Isabela River.

Although the Dominicans said they were aware of the threat posed by cholera, the Haitians residing in the area continue to bathe and even wash their clothes in the pool, which shows how unhealthy it is.

Given this situation and the number of Haitians residing in the area, the health authorities have prepared awareness material in Creole and Spanish so that foreigners can receive in their own language the necessary preventive information to avoid the spread of the dangerous disease.

“We have been educating them house by house, we are taking them educational material in Spanish and Creole because there are some foreign citizens here, but the Dominicans have mostly heeded the call for prevention, which is what we are looking for,” said the director of Area IV of Public Health, Jesús Surdí.

On the other hand, during a tour made by journalists of this newspaper, a brigade of workers of the Mayor’s Office of the National District was observed in the area, which has been cleaning all the places that could be a focus of bacteria since yesterday morning.

Mobile hospital

By order of the Minister of Public Health, Daniel Rivera, a mobile hospital was installed last Monday in La Zurza. A team of doctors assists all citizens who present any symptomatology related to cholera.

Fewer patients

Dr. Máximo Canela, in charge of the unit, explained to journalists of Listín Diario that, although the number of patients has gradually decreased, each patient is evaluated, submitted to treatment, or referred to a hospital center, depending on the case.

He added that they are also doing “an educational work by handing out flyers containing essential information on cholera.”

A week ago, the Ministry of Public Health confirmed four new cases of cholera, for a total of six in the country. All correspond to Dominican citizens residing in the La Zurza sector of the National District.

The health authorities urged the population not to be alarmed, to remain alert to reports, and to follow prevention measures such as frequent hand washing, washing food properly, eating well-cooked food, and drinking only potable water.

They also recommend going to the nearest health center for investigation and timely treatment if you have any diarrheal events.

The Ozama cordon

On Thursday, the proposal of the Listin Diario newspaper in its Wednesday editorial to cordon off and prohibit the access of bathers to the Isabela and Ozama rivers due to their high levels of contamination and the recent incidence of cholera bacteria was positively accepted by the Ministry of Health.

According to Dr. Daniel Rivera, Minister of Health, the analyses to understand whether or not it is necessary to limit the passage to both river sources are already underway.

Rivera added that, as Public Health, they are going to wait until they see the cultural studies in the waters of the two rivers to proceed to accompany the acting institutions as much as they have done in the intervention process developed by the Ministry in the capital sector of La Zurza, where the first cases of cholera have appeared in the country.

KEYS

Cases and tests

The Ministry of Public Health reported that eight cases had been confirmed in the Dominican Republic, and six others are awaiting results. It explains that since the cholera cases appeared in Haiti, more than 3,000 tests have been carried out in the country to detect the disease.

Prevention

To combat the disease, the authorities continue to intensify preventive measures through water chlorination, monitoring in schools where toilets and pipes are being repaired, installing new water tanks, creating wells for drinking water supply, and cleaning rivers.

According to Rivera, due to the high levels of contamination in its waters, which are possibly sponsors of the country’s current cases of cholera, located in the La Zurza sector that maintains a spring that flows into the Isabela River, studies are already being conducted pertinent to determine fence their surroundings and definitively evade the insistent bathers.

Similarly, the doctor stated that, while the interpretations agreed with the Ministry of the Environment and the Santo Domingo Aqueduct and Sewerage Corporation (CAASD), Public Health would benefit from greater control over the bacteria’s prevalence. “Other State entities are already required to use this strategy, which will benefit Public Health by controlling the emergence of new cases in the area,” he assured.

This proposal to surround and prohibit access to both river sources stems from an editorial published today in the newspaper Listin Diario, which identifies this and other measures as possible channels of cholera retention.