Cuba fights a deadly chikungunya virus outbreak
INTERNATIONAL – SOUTH AMERICA
22 NOVEMBER 2025
- Cuba has been gripped by an outbreak of the viral disease chikungunya, as it battles shortages of clean water, food, fuel and medicine, during its worst economic crisis in decades.
- Island residents have no choice but to ride out the ailment with little to eat or basic medicines to relieve fever and joint pain that can be debilitating but rarely fatal.
- The virus first emerged in Cuba’s western Matanzas province in July 2025, but is now in all 15 provinces of the country of 9.7 million people.
- Simultaneously, the communist island has been afflicted by outbreaks of dengue, Zika, Oropouche and yellow fever — all mosquito-borne, like chikungunya.
- Patients said there was nothing to do but to wait it out — often on an empty stomach.
- Even paracetamol, a common painkiller, is “not available at the pharmacy.”
- Under U.S. sanctions and its critical tourism sector left in ruins by the Covid-19 epidemic, a dearth of foreign currency has seen a steep decline Cuba’s medical services and prevention programs such as mosquito fumigation.
- Cuba, long known for its medical and pharmaceutical expertise, was able to deal a swift blow to a previous chikungunya outbreak in 2014.
