Dengue fever spreading across Latin America

SAN JUAN — Dengue is surging across the Americas early this year from puerto Rico to brazil, with 3.5 million cases of the tropical disease reported so far, health officials said thursday.

That tally is three times the number of cases reported at this point last year, said Dr. Jarbas barbosa, director of the pan American Health organization, the regional office of the world Health organization in the Americas.

Last year, there were a record 4.5 million cases in the region, and paho officials said they expect this year will set a new record. Usually dengue spikes during the wet season, which is still months away. And some areas are reporting dengue for the first time, officials said.

The virus is spread to people when they are bitten by infected mosquitoes. Driving the surge are rising temperatures, rapid urbanization, droughts and floods, and poor sanitation and a lack of robust health systems in some countries, health officials said.