Dengue fever kills hundreds in Burkina Faso as cases spike
BURKINA Faso's health ministry has declared a dengue fever epidemic amid the deadliest outbreak in years in which more than 200 people have died and new cases are rising sharply. There have been 50,478 suspected cases and 214 deaths of the mosquito-borne illness this year, the ministry said in a statement, mostly in the urban centres of the capital Ouagadougou and Bobo Dioulasso. About 20% of the cases and deaths were recorded last week alone, it said. Dengue kills an estimated 20,000 people worldwide each year. Rates of the disease have risen eight-fold since 2000, driven largely by climate change,…