Dengue fever widespread
El Salvador is facing a widespead outbreak of mosquito-borne dengue fever. According to La Prensa Grafica the number of cases has increased 700% from the same time last year. The strains on the health system are described in this AFP new story : Hospitals in El Salvador have been overwhelmed by an unexpected rise in respiratory diseases including pneumonia and dengue fever, health authorities said Wednesday. "We've got our hospital network and neighborhood health clinics working at full capacity... with a huge increase these past few weeks in patients with respiratory ailments and possible dengue," Deputy Health Minister Eduardo Espinoza told reporters. The official said acute respiratory disease has shot up in 11 of the country's 14 departments, totaling some 1.3 million cases since the start of the year, including 26,546 cases of pneumonia and 6,584 cases of dengue fever. Espinoza said health authorities were investigating another 15,893 cases of suspected dengue