Deaths from dengue fever in Brazil up 90% in 2010

An article from Xinhua :

" RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 11 : The number of deaths from dengue fever in Brazil increased 89.7 percent from January to mid-October year on year, the country's Health Ministry announced on Thursday.

According to the ministry, 592 people died from dengue fever in Brazil this year, up from 312 in the same period in 2009. The number of dengue fever cases in the period surpassed 936,000 from January to October, a jump from the 489,819 cases a year earlier.

Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao said that 70 percent of the dengue fever cases occurred in six states: Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais in the southeastern region, Mato Grosso do Sul and Goias in the midwestern region, Acre and Rondonia in the northern region.

Most of the deaths were caused by the type 1 dengue fever, which was common in Brazil in the 1990s and now returned with full force.

According to Giovanini Coelho, coordinator of the ministry's anti-dengue program, a high incidence of rain, hot weather and poor sanitation in the country also contributed to the rise in the dengue fever cases."