Dengue epidemic rises rapidly in Guangdong

A deadly outbreak of dengue fever in Guangdong has spiked alarmingly in the last week, with 1,200 cases alone reported in Guangzhou between Saturday and Monday.

In all, the province has reported 6,089 cases this year - or 10 times more than same time last year.

The provincial capital is the hardest-hit area, with 5,190 cases, or 85 per cent of the total, and two deaths as of Monday, according to the Guangdong Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

Yang Zhicong , deputy chief of the CDC's Guangzhou arm, said the authorities attributed the sudden spike in dengue to imported cases and persistent rainfall in the region.

He also said the refusal of many members of the public and even government bodies to cooperate contributed to the high number. This included Guangzhou Zoo, which refused to let Yang's office monitor mosquitoes inside its premises, according to local media reports.

Yang said the authorities had established 177 monitoring stations for mosquitoes from the Aedes genus known to spread the dengue virus.

The two dengue deaths, both elderly patients, were the first reported in the city for many years, said Yin Zhibiao , head of Guangzhou's Eighth People's Hospital, an infectious disease facility that has admitted 199 patients with dengue fever, 15 of whom were "severely ill".