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Dengue in Cape Verde and Senegal
Thursday, 19 November, 2009
Medecins Sans Frontieres emergency teams are responding to the 1st ever dengue fever outbreak in Cape Verde , just off the West African coast. The Cape Verde Ministry of Health has reported 13 187 suspected cases of dengue fever in 4 islands within the archipelago between 1 Oct - 9 Nov [2009]. The outbreak is the 1st ever in Cape Verde and is the biggest recorded in Africa. The number of cases has increased sharply since the beginning of November 2009, reaching 1000 cases per day. 93 cases of DHF have been reported, and 6 people have already died.
On the West African mainland in Senegal dengue has been reported for the first time in at least two decades.
Reports of dengue outbreaks from sub-Saharan Africa have been extremely rare.
