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FROM
CUBA
Diarrhea outbreak overwhelms health system
in Moa
MOA, Cuba - June 16 (Juan Carlos Garcell,
APLO / www.cubanet.org) - A diarrhea outbreak,
affecting mostly the very young and old,
has overwhelmed the available health facilities
in Moa.
Last Thursday, Deysi Leiva walked out of
the emergency room in the Pedro Sota Alba
pediatric hospital, where she had taken
her two-year-old daughter Dayrin for diarrhea,
saying the medical facility was full of
mothers with children in the same condition.
The problems in Moa are aggravated by the
arrival of the rainy season and the lack
of a reliable drinking water supply for
the population. Residents say boiling the
water doesn't work very well in Moa, where
the water's mineral content is high and
is concentrated even further by boiling.
Physicians Aldo Consuegra and Raima Diaz
recommend raising the water's temperature
to just below boiling. Consuegra and Diaz
said the often patients are medicated to
combat the diarrhea and later become reinfected
by the water.
Moa is one of the most highly polluted
areas on the island, due mostly to the presence
of nickel processing plants.
Versión
original en español
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