Dengue cases have become prevalent in Peru, with record infections in Brazil and Argentina.
The viral disease which causes high fever can become deadly in more serious situations.
Although dengue can be spread from mosquitoes to people, it does not transmit through person to person, but can be a risk for pregnant women and their babies.
Spreaded across tropical and subtropical areas, the virus proliferates mainly across urban and semi-urban areas, causing at least 100 to 400 million infections per annum, according to statistics from the World Health Organisation.
At the end of March, the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) warned Brazilians and the Carribeans that dengue cases would increase as they predicted the worst dengue season on record.
In less than three months since the start of the year, the region's health authorities have recorded more than 3.5 million cases and a thousand deaths due to the virus.
According to the Peruvian Ministry of Health, since the start of the year dengue fever has caused 147 deaths and more than 155,000 cases have been reported in the country. These figures far exceed the 39 deaths and 34,000 cases reported over the same period in 2023.
The situation led the government to declare a health emergency in 20 of the country's 25 regions in February.
High temperatures caused by the El Niño phenomenon between mid-2023 and March 2024 favoured the spread of the virus.
Dengue: Number of cases rise in Peru, Brazil and Argentina
