A mysterious outbreak known as “el virus” has swept across Cuba, leaving hospitals overwhelmed as soaring numbers of children arrive dangerously dehydrated and with peeling skin
A mysterious virus dubbed “el virus” has been spreading at a worrying pace, leaving children dangerously dehydrated and with peeling skin. Hospitals have consequently struggled to cope with soaring cases
Officials are now warned that up to a third the population in a specific area may have been infected in what’s being called an unprecedented epidemic. El virus has reportedly swept across Cuba over the past five months.
Hospitals across the island are reportedly buckling under the pressure after the illness first erupted in Matanzas province in mid-2025. As a result, families have been stricken down with soaring fevers, rashes, peeling skin, vomiting, diarrhoea and agonising joint pain.
“It’s no lie to say we are dying,” a Cuban nurse told Spanish media, painting a grim picture of the crisis. By the end of 2025, officials admitted that as many as one in three Cubans may have caught the bug, a staggering number for a country of 11 million, Trialsitenews reported.
Health chiefs now reportedly say the epidemic is a “combined arbovirus” outbreak, mainly fuelled by dengue and chikungunya, with possible cases of Oropouche and other viruses in the mix. Chikungunya, which was once rare in Cuba, is now running rampant through a population with little natural resistance.
In just one week in early December, more than 5,700 new chikungunya cases were logged, with total suspected infections nearing 40,000 across the country. Dengue fever is also raging in all 15 provinces.
Despite Public Health Minister José Ángel Portal Miranda’s assurances that these are simply “familiar” tropical illnesses, doctors on the front lines are warning of patients suffering from multiple infections at once, making treatment even more difficult. Children’s wards have reportedly been hit especially hard, with young patients arriving dangerously dehydrated and in desperate need of care.
Of the 52 confirmed deaths reported by late December, approximately 60% were individuals under 18 years old, Beaconbio reported. The epidemic also coincides with a severe economic crisis.
Shortages of fuel for fumigation, a lack of basic medicines like analgesics, and the emigration of over 30,000 doctors in recent years have left the system in a state of “collapse”.
Travelers to Cuba are currently advised by agencies to practice enhanced precautions, including the use of high-strength repellents and protective clothing, as the risk remains high throughout early 2026
The health crisis is being called a “combined arbovirus” epidemic, as three mosquito-borne viruses; dengue, chikungunya, and Oropouche, run rampant across the island. Chikungunya, nicknamed “the bending up disease”, causes crippling joint pain and fever.
Dengue, or “breakbone fever”, is notorious for severe pain, rashes, and in the worst cases, deadly internal bleeding. Oropouche virus, a newer arrival, brings fever and muscle aches that can recur weeks later and, in rare cases, lead to dangerous brain swelling.
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