Two Cuban epidemiologists are expected to arrive in Sri Lanka today

A Health Ministry official has told Daily Mirror. Two Cuban epidemiologists who were invited to help Sri Lanka to handle the fast spreading Dengue epidemic in the island did not arrive in Colombo on Saturday as expected. Cuba's chief epidemiologist Aramis Martinez and assistant epidemiologist S. Yalina were expected to arrive here on 8:30 a.m. on Saturday.

News papers reported Health services Deputy Director General Palitha Mahipala went to the airport to receive the two Cuban epidemiologists who were to arrive on an Emirates flight via Dubai. But they were not among the planeload of passengers who checked in at the immigration desk. When the Cuban Embassy checked with the health authorities in Havana of Cuba, they were told that the two epidemiologists left their office on Thursday and they were due to travel to Sri Lanka via Dubai. However, when the embassy checked the Emirates passenger manifesto it was found that the two Cubans had not arrived in Dubai. It is not clear what happened to the two Cubans on the way to Sri Lanka.

The Dengue fever is fast spreading in Sri Lankan since the beginning of this year with 180 people killed by the disease and more than 18,000 cases reported so far. This represents a sharp increase as 4,156 dengue cases and 85 deaths were reported for the whole year of 2008. The BTI bacterium is being widely used in Cuba to control the breeding of disease-bearing mosquitoes.