Cuba fights neuritis outbreak
HAVANA — The Cuban daily Granma on April 27 lashed out at a foreign media disinformation campaign around the outbreak of optic neuritis on the island.
Optic neuritis is a vision-impairing disease. It was first detected in the western Pinar del Rio province and later spread to other areas in the country.
Cuban doctors have identified smoking, alcohol consumption and vitamin deficiencies, particularly of the B-complex, as the risk factors associated with optic neuritis.
The Cuban government has given top priority to curtailing the disease, preventing it from spreading further, and to an in-depth study on the causes of the outbreak.
The current distribution of some 2 billion vitamin B-complex tablets, cost-free to all Cubans, shows that safeguarding the health of the Cuban people is top of the revolution's agenda, concludes Granma.
[Radio Havana/Pegasus.]