The country continues to be victim of an unnamed virus that has affected as much as 10% of the nation’s school children. According to Dr. Emilio Mena Castro, Director of the Robert Reid Cabbral Children’s Hospital in Santo Domingo, 35% of all patients seeking treatment at the hospital manifest the symptoms of the virus. According to Mena Castro, the virus begins with cold symptoms, but concludes as a bacterial rampage causing otitis, hepiglotitus, faringoamigdalitis, bronchiolitis, and pneumonia. Poor nutrition was cited as a cause of the high levels of susceptibility among Dominican children.
