dengue fever

Costa Rican authorities have identified 1,766 cases of dengue so far this year, down significantly compared to the 5,730 tallied by the same date in 2020.

Costa Rica's Health Ministry declared an outbreak of dengue in the San José canton of Pérez Zeledón, the institution said this week. 

The rainy season in Central America brings with it an increase in dengue cases — a dangerous scenario for health systems that are already scrambling to contain the coronavirus.

Dengue is most commonly caught by people traveling to hotter climates such as Costa Rica.

At least 100 people have died from dengue this year in Honduras, officials say. 

Two more people died last week due to methanol poisoning, Costa Rica's Health Ministry reported. 

Dengue fever is a disease that causes high fever, rash, and muscle and joint pains.

The latest report from the Health Ministry released last week states that there are 107 confirmed cases of Zika virus, 67 of them in the Central Pacific canton of Garabito.

While the mosquito-borne Zika virus captures headlines, dengue and chikungunya cases in Costa Rica have both quietly jumped more than 600 percent in 2016 compared to the same period last year.

The Pacific provinces of Guanacaste and Puntarenas account for 70 percent of cases of dengue in Costa Rica so far this year, the Public Health Ministry reported. The number of cases of chikungunya in Costa Rica is increasing, the same report noted.