Scientists Warn Argentina Faces Rising Risk Of Dengue Epidemic

Reuters (4/8, Bustamante, Sigal) reports, “Mosquitoes are hatching earlier in Argentina and reaching cooler regions than before, as rising temperatures drive the country’s worst outbreak of dengue fever and raise the risk of more regular epidemics of the insect-borne virus, scientists said.” So far this season, Argentina “has recorded 232,996 cases of the disease sometime known as ‘break-bone fever’ for the severe muscle and joint pain it can cause, along with high fever, headache, vomiting, and skin rash.” Those case numbers are “well above the previous all-time high of 130,000, recorded last season, and five times the figure at the same point a year ago, the latest official data showed.”