South America faces its worst dengue outbreak. More than 3.5 million cases have been recorded since the start of the year.
Majority of cases are concentrated in Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. Explosion in the number of cases is linked to the proliferation of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, favored by global warming and the El Niño weather phenomenon. A new serum would not be sufficient to stop the epidemic in the short term, the Pan American Health Organization has stressed. The WHO has called on all countries on the continent to launch awareness campaigns to eliminate stagnant waters where these mosquitoes breed.