Like a pouting, stomping three year old, the USA just can't get over
the Cubans reclaiming their stolen property.
And we talk about electing a few folks who can compromise with the
Mafia-like Corporate Capitalists who believe that they are entitled to
whatever they lay claim to. Instead of working together, the Anti
Communist, Christ Centered, White Supremacists, Anti Women, Good Old
Boys support Mafia-like leaders would sell their own sisters and
daughters into prostitution before sitting down with Cuban
"undesirables".
Carl Jarvis
On 3/16/20, miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
How Cuba is Leading the World in the Fight Against Coronavirus
As Cuba sends doctors around the world to help fight coronavirus, a Cuban
antiviral drug, Interferon Alpha 2b, is helping countries like China stem
the tide of the outbreak.
by Alan Macleod
March 16th, 2020
By Alan Macleod
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While the United States government is complicating efforts to treat
coronavirus across the world and is using the pandemic to increase pressure
on countries already struggling under U.S. sanctions, including Iran, Syria,
and Venezuela, the small island of Cuba, itself a target of Washington’s
ire, is leading the fight against the spread of COVID-19.
And while the Trump administration slashes the Center for Disease Control’s
budget amid an imminent pandemic, China appears to have gotten to grips with
the coronavirus outbreak. Beijing reported only 16 new cases of the virus
today, and there are now more total cases outside mainland China than inside
it.
Integral to reducing the number of deaths is a Cuban antiviral drug,
Interferon Alpha 2b. The drug, according to Cuban biotech specialist Dr.
Luis Herrera Martinez, “prevents aggravation and complications in patients,
reaching that stage that ultimately can result in death.” It has been
produced in China since 2003 in a partnership with the state-owned Cuban
pharmaceutical industry. Interferons are “signaling” proteins, explains Dr.
Helen Yaffe of Glasgow University, an expert on Cuba. These proteins are
produced and released by the body in response to infections and alert nearby
cells to heighten their antiviral defenses. It is not a cure or a vaccine to
COVID-19, but rather an antiviral that boosts the human immune system.
Cuba has used it to fight outbreaks of Dengue Fever, a common occurrence on
the mosquito-plagued island. The Castro government was forced to develop a
strong pharmaceutical industry because of the constant U.S. embargo. Cuba
estimates the decades-long sanctions, continually declared illegal by the
United Nations, have cost it over $750 billion.
Today, the Cuban government offered haven to the stranded cruise ship, MS
Braemar. The ship has five confirmed COVID-19 cases on board and had been
turned away by both Barbados and the Bahamas.
Despite confirming its own first cases, the island is continuing to export
medical professionals to the rest of the world. Yesterday, Jamaican Health
Minister Christopher Tufton announced that 21 nurses from its neighbor would
arrive imminently, the first of more than 100, he hoped. But they have also
sent doctors to more advanced nations, such as Italy.
teleSUR English
@telesurenglish
#INPICTURES 📸 | Cuban and Chinese doctors arriving in Italy to assist the
health authorities.
Cuba has the interferon Alpha-2B, powerful in the treatment of coronavirus
and China has the experience of having overcome the peak of infections in
its territory. #COVID19
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Sarpoma Sefa-Boakye, a Ghanaian-American doctor who studied for free in
Havana and now practices in California told MintPress: “You don’t hear of
Cuba’s health contributions in the United States,” claiming that there are
more Cuban doctors in Africa than African doctors and that the Caribbean
island trains more Africans in medicine than all of Africa does. She first
heard of the possibility of scholarships for Americans while studying in
Ghana. She notes that Cuba is well placed to combat the coronavirus because
of its culture of quarantining for viruses and its experience fighting
Dengue.
Despite inadequate testing, the United States has over 4,000 confirmed cases
of COVID-19. There has not been one centralized plan from the government;
instead, different authorities have enacted different laws, with varying
degrees of severity. New York City, for example, will go into lockdown
tomorrow, closing all schools, universities and non-essential stores. On the
other hand, other cities remain almost completely normalized.
Dr. Sefa-Boakye advised that stringent measures were urgently needed to
fight the virus’ spread; “Quarantining has to be the only way that we can
get a hold of transmission,” she said. “The science will tell you, you talk
to any biologist or anyone who has taken a basic science class: viruses
replicate. That is how they move. They need a host and a source. I learned
that in Cuba.” She also warned that the United States is “facing an increase
in transmission because of our lack of infrastructure.”
Dr Sylvie Briand
@SCBriand
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Worldwide, the number of confirmed cases reached over 175,000 today, with
6,717 deaths. COVID-19 has now reached a large majority of countries.
Medical professionals urge everybody to reduce their contact with other
people to the minimum necessary, regularly wash their hands with soap and
water, avoid touching their face, and cover their mouths with their elbow
when they cough or sneeze.
The World Health Organization (WHO) advised countries should check all
potential cases. “You cannot fight a fire blindfolded. We have a simple
message for all countries: test, test, test,” said WHO Director General
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia. “This amazing spirit of human
solidarity must become even more infectious than the coronavirus itself.
Although we may have to be physically apart from each other for a while, we
can come together in ways we never have before…We’re all in this together.
And we can only succeed together,” he added. It is that ethos that has
driven Cuba’s revolutionary healthcare system for 60 years.
