An additional 471 people were infected with dengue in January in Peru, but none of the cases were fatal hemorrhagic type, a Health Ministry official told Xinhua Wednesday.
Luis Leon, coordinator of the National Strategy for Prevention and Control of Vector-borne Diseases, said most of the infected people in January live in hot and tropical climate zones in the north and east.
Dengue is a painful, debilitating disease transmitted by the Aedes aegyoti mosquito, which usually thrives in places near stagnant water.
Also known as "breakbone fever," the symptoms of dengue include fever, weakness and body ache. It could take five to six days for an infected person to exhibit symptoms of the disease.
In 2008, Peru registered 13,418 dengue cases, of which 36 were hemorrhagic, though only one of those infected died, Leon said.
According to Leon, vectors have been detected in 23 of the 42 districts in and around the city of Lima.
Leon had advised people earlier in the month to use clean and lidded water containers at home to stop reproduction of mosquitoes.
He also said the Peruvian Health Ministry has launched various campaigns in different cities of the country, teaching people basic knowledge about dengue and how to prevent it.
The first dengue case in Peru was registered in 1990. In 2001, an epidemic sprout affected 24,232 people, 283 of whom suffered the hemorrhagic type.
Hemorrhagic dengue is a serious condition and can lead to death. Besides the classic symptoms, the infected person may also vomit blood, have difficulty in breathing, and suffer from stomachache, fainting, pale skin, and bleeding from the nose and mouth.
The recent heavy rains in South America have prompted a dengue alert, with health ministries of several countries setting up prevention campaigns.
More than 10,000 people in the region have been diagnosed with dengue so far this year. Bolivia has registered the highest number of cases at 8,000, of whom 500 have contracted the hemorrhagic variety.
In Brazil, health authorities have initiated measures to prevent a repeat of last year's dengue epidemic, which infected some 260,000 people and left 240 dead.