Dengue Fever Attacks Ivory Coast

The Ivorian health ministry declared Tuesday that a dengue outbreak has been raging in Côte d'Ivoire since March 22, hitting primarily Abidjan and killing one out of every eleven cases reported.

"Eleven verified cases of dengue fever were found in Côte d'Ivoire, primarily in the Abidjan autonomous area," according to Le Vigile, a health ministry newsletter.

The government reported nine cases from Abidjan and two instances from Adiake, 90 kilometers east of the Ivorian economic city of 5.6 million people, and Daloa (central-west).

Dengue fever is transmitted in a similar way to malaria, and the present rainy season in Côte d'Ivoire, in which a dengue epidemic started out somewhere in 2019, with one hundred and thirty cases and two deaths, making mosquito breeding easier.

To combat the spread of this "re-emerging" illness throughout the world, the government started a mosquito control and campaign to raise awareness.