MEDICC Rev. 2011 Jan;13(1):10-5. doi: 10.37757/MR2011V13.N1.3.
When Cuba was hit by a neuropathy epidemic two decades ago, Dr Rosaralis Santiesteban was one of the Cuban health professionals who played a key role in its management, as reflected in a recent issue of Seminars in Ophthalmology. She was well prepared for her part: trained in medicine at the University of Havana before completing a residency in ophthalmology and eventually a doctorate in medical sciences, she has received multiple honors for her research, publishing and teaching. In 2007, she was named Distinguished Researcher by the Cuban Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment. She has headed the Department of Neuro-ophthalmology at Cuba's Neurology and Neurosurgery Institute since 1977. Now called Cuban Epidemic Neuropathy, the 1990s epidemic that affected over 50,000 Cubans is the largest and best-documented of its kind in history. As researchers pressed to unravel the mystery of its etiology to hasten the epidemic's end, Dr Santiesteban recognized that similar outbreaks had occurred during Cuba's wars of independence in the late 1800s--described in her book, Epidemias y Endemias de neuropatía en Cuba. In the proverbial eye of the storm during the 1990s epidemic, she shares her reflections below on the context, causes, evolution and lessons learned from the challenge that put Cuba's health system to the test.
当古巴在二十年前遭遇神经病变流行病时，罗莎利丝·桑蒂斯特班医生是参与管理的古巴卫生专业人员之一，这一点反映在最近一期的《眼科学述评》中。她为自己的角色做了充分的准备：她在哈瓦那大学接受医学培训，之后完成了眼科住院医师培训，最终获得了医学科学博士学位。她因研究、出版和教学获得了多项荣誉。2007 年，她被古巴科学、技术和环境部授予杰出研究人员称号。自 1977 年以来，她一直领导古巴神经病学和神经外科学研究所的神经眼科部门。20 世纪 90 年代影响了超过 50,000 名古巴人的流行病被称为古巴流行神经病变，是历史上此类疾病中规模最大、记录最完善的一次。随着研究人员加紧解开其病因之谜以加速流行病的结束，桑蒂斯特班医生意识到，在 19 世纪末古巴独立战争期间也发生过类似的疫情——她在自己的著作《古巴神经病变的流行病和地方病》中对此进行了描述。在 20 世纪 90 年代的疫情风暴眼中，她分享了自己对这一挑战的思考，包括背景、原因、演变以及从这一考验中吸取的经验教训。
