In Caracas, Sick Humans Are Resorting to Dog Medicine

Pharmacy shelves are bare, and black-market prices are sky-high. People are turning to antibiotics for pets.
Residents protest the lack of medicine in Caracas, on April 9, 2018.

Residents protest the lack of medicine in Caracas, on April 9, 2018.

Photographer: Wilfredo Riera/Bloomberg

Editor’s Note: There are few places as chaotic or dangerous as Venezuela. “Life in Caracas” is a new series of short stories that seeks to capture the surreal quality of living in a land in total disarray.

For my friend Elena, it was the ultimate indignity. She showed me the prednisone she takes for severe allergies: The photo on the package was of a frisky puppy.