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full screenPuerto Rico has classified the latest outbreak of the mosquito-borne infectious disease dengue fever as an epidemic. Archive image. Photo: Rick Bowmer/AP/TT
Puerto Rico has been hit by a large number of cases of the infectious disease dengue fever and the health minister has classified the outbreak as an epidemic.
The self-governing US territory has a population of 3.2 million and has reported at least 549 cases of dengue so far this year. Most in the capital San Juan.
More than 340 people have been hospitalized for the mosquito-borne disease. The last time Puerto Rico suffered a dengue epidemic was in 2012.