Venezuela : Dengue fever has climbed by 81 percent

Via El Universal :

" A total of 48,581 cases of dengue have been diagnosed in 2010, with hemorrhagic dengue fever amounting to 9.6 percent of cases.

Official reports show that 48,581 Venezuelans were diagnosed with dengue as of June 19, 2010. The data were disclosed in the 24th Epidemiological Bulletin released by the Ministry of Health for the week from June 13-19, 2010.

In the preface of the document, the Ministry of Health conceded that dengue cases climbed 81.79 percent, and reported a morbidity rate of 168.5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. However, they warned that the disease has performed similarly in the whole continent.

"Dengue fever and its most severe form, hemorrhagic dengue fever, are showing increasing incidence rates throughout the world," the bulletin stressed. In the EW 23 Epidemiological Bulletin published by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), authors claimed that in percentage terms dengue incidence rate increased by 165 percent between April 22-June 14 this year."