Cuba and Belgium announced Friday that they are to launch throughout the island a joint experiment to control dengue fever using community participation and if successful the initiative may be adapted and expanded to other countries.
Health professionals said difficulties in dengue control were the result of a lack of participation of the community and limited knowledge of prevention methods.
The initiative is part of cooperation between Cuba and Belgium.
The dengue-control trial project in Cuba "is at top world level because what is done here is in good quality, is successful, and good results are obtained," Patrick van der Stuyft, a researcher from Belgium's Tropical Medicine Institute, said.
Van der Stuyft, who was attending an international dengue event in Havana, added that Cuba has carried out continuous dengue studies in the past five years.
Cuban and Belgian specialists have collaborated in other investigations of dengue fever for 10 years, as a way to communicate, modernize and improve operations to fight the disease.
Dengue is caused by a virus transmitted to human beings by the Aedes aegypti mosquito and is characterized by high fever, rashes, headaches, and severe muscle and joint pain.
Source: Xinhua
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