South China province reports 1,215 new dengue fever cases

GUANGZHOU - South China's Guangdong province reported 1,215 new dengue fever cases on Friday, the local health authorities said Saturday.

The total number of dengue fever cases in Guangdong has therefore climbed to 18,866, including four deaths: three in the provincial capital Guangzhou and one in the neighboring Foshan city, the provincial health and family planning commission said in a press release.

The disease has so far been detected in 19 out of 21 prefecture-level cities in Guangdong, it said.

Guangzhou has reported 15,912 cases, whereas Foshan has reported 1,803. Shenzhen, a boom city neighboring Hong Kong, has 76 cases, it said.

Health authorities have attributed the outbreak to high temperatures and wet weather in Guangdong, where the mosquito population is five times the normal level.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne, potentially fatal disease that affects between 50 and 100 million people in tropical and subtropical regions every year, causing fever combined with muscle and joint aches.