America braced for haemorrhagic dengue outbreak:

Latin America is braced for a significant rise in the incidence of haemorrhagic dengue fever. Local reports of an increased incidence of the disease in several countries have prompted the health ministers of Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela to sign a co-operation agreement aimed at tackling the disease. Thirty-three new cases including four deaths, were recently confirmed in the Brazilian region of Ceara, where the previous annual record was 25 cases, recorded in 1994. At the end of May, Venezuela's epidemiological services were put on national alert in response to the recent rise in incidence of the disease (see Clinica No 960, p 11). At the beginning of June 2001, 3,037 cases of haemorrhagic dengue, including 28 deaths, were reported in the Americas, according to the Pan-American Health Organization; there were 205,841 cases of classic dengue.