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Dengue fever cases top 21,000 in Guangdong

More than 21,000 people now infected with the mosquito-borne disease in Guangdong province

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Dengue fever is a disease carried by mosquitoes, and these genetically modified aedes aegypti mosquitoes were released in the US to control the number of mosquitoes that spread dengue fever. Photo: AP
Mimi Lau

The number of cases of dengue fever in Guangdong has doubled in just over a week.

Twenty cities in the province had reported 21,527 cases by midnight on Sunday, according to figures released by the provincial health department.

The authorities had reported 10,743 cases on September 27.

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Six people have died of the disease.

Guangzhou officials pledged about a fortnight ago to contain the outbreak in about "two to three weeks" with stronger eradication measures, but the rise in infections of the mosquito-born virus is showing no sign of easing.

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Xinhua warned last week that if Guangzhou and other key cities failed to contain dengue fever in the next month or two, the outbreak will further escalate and spread to other regions, describing it an "extremely challenging prevention effort".

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