HAVANA, CUBA.- Although Cuba’s results in fighting the A H1N1  influenza virus have been described as positive, national experts insist on the need to strengthen personal and collective hygienic measures as the most effective tool against the pandemic.

During a meeting with reporters in Havana, specialists with the Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) said that over the last six weeks there has been an increase in the number of patients suffering from respiratory diseases, particularly the A H1N1 influenza virus, introduced in the island on April 24, 2009.

The national director of Epidemiology, Dr. Manuel Santin, warned that the pandemic is not over and he criticized the lack of risk perception among the people, particularly among the most vulnerable groups.

The head of MINSAP’s programs against tuberculosis and respiratory diseases, Dr. Maria Josefa Llanes, noted that —since April 28, 2009— the Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine has reported 1,492 cases of patients with the A H1N1 influenza virus.

She added that last October alone, more than 250,000 Cubans were suffering from respiratory diseases and she pointed that out that most of the population is vulnerable to an imminent third wave of pandemic flu.

Llanes said that, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the A H1N1 virus has killed more than 8,000 people in the Americas and the countries with the highest increase of cases are El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama.