Dengue fever spreads in Latin America, Caribbean

According to official data nearly 25,000 Panamanians have been affected by dengue fever since 1993.

Dengue fever is spreading rapidly through Latin America and the Caribbean. More than 1,400 cases of dengue fever are being treated in Panama even as 40 deaths have been reported from the Dominican Republic and 10 in Colombia.

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According to official data quoted by Cuba's Prensa Latina news agency, nearly 25,000 Panamanians have been affected by dengue fever since 1993.

The fever is also taking its toll in the Dominican Republic. The total number of patients hit by the disease this year is nearly 4,700, of which 166 are of the haemorrhagic variety.

Dominican Public Health Secretary Bautista Rojas said a large number of student volunteers would be enrolled to eliminate breeding grounds for Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes, the transmitter of the disease.

In Colombia, around 16 patients are reportedly hospitalised, while one is in serious condition with aggressive haemorrhagic strain.

Colombian civic authorities are calling upon the people to take adequate steps like not allowing stagnation of water and other precautionary measures.