Wisconsin health officials have announced a higher number of cases of communicable diseases after the Dominican Republic reported a surge in cases of the pneumonia-causing illness, Covid-19.
But that’s not all health officials are learning about the outbreak.
Kevin McDonough, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, told Fox6 News Friday the cases are a combination of cases from the Dominican Republic and other countries.
He said reports from the Department of Public Health in the Dominican Republic say most of the cases are confirmed to be “Covid-19” and “oral gonorrhea,” both of which were affecting people in the Dominican Republic.
Additionally, he said two cases of the pneumonia-causing illness, Clostridium difficile, were found in Wisconsin.
When Fox6 News asked McDonough about the cases being in Wisconsin, he said the state was not sending any samples to the Dominican Republic to assist in the ongoing investigation.
The Dominican Republic began finding the deadly disease in September, sending officials to countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to identify cases and issue travel advisories.
Officials said it had never previously hit the Dominican Republic and that their efforts to contain the disease would rely on partnerships with countries in the Caribbean and Central America.
McDonough said the number of patients reporting symptoms continued to drop dramatically, but the number of total cases had jumped sharply to 117 as of Thursday.
“We’re working in conjunction with the Dominican Republic, and we’ll continue to partner with them in the long term,” he said.