HAVANA, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- A cholera outbreak has infected 51 people in Cuba's capital Havana since it was first detected, the health authorities said Tuesday.
On Jan. 6, Cuba's clinical monitoring system first detected a spike in patients with acute diarrhea, one of the main symptoms of cholera, along with vomiting, in Havana's district of El Cerro, and then in other areas of the city, the Communist Party daily Granma said, citing an official release.
The outbreak, the second one on the Caribbean island in just six months, is "in the phase of extinction," thanks to preventive measures taken by the authorities.
In July 2011, the authorities confirmed 158 cases of cholera, including three deaths in eastern Cuba, marking the first outbreak on the island for more than a century.
The report promoted the authorities to activate a nationwide anti-cholera campaign, the daily said.
Cuba's Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine identified the strain of cholera as the same that led to the July outbreak, and has confirmed 51 cases so far, with no fatalities.
In recent days, medical workers went door to door to distribute medicines to residents in certain neighborhoods.
The public were told to pay more attention to hygiene, washing their hands and drinking clean water.
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