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Ex-Brazil winger Michel Bastos diagnosed with dengue

Xinhua, May 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

Former Brazil international winger Michel Bastos has been ruled out of Sao Paulo's Copa Libertadores round of 16 match against Cruzeiro on Wednesday with dengue fever.

"The confirmation came today and we thought it best for him not to play despite the fact he should be overcoming it by then," Sao Paulo team doctor Jose Sanchez told news portal Uol.

Thirty-one-year-old Bastos, capped 10 times for the Selecao, is the second high-profile footballer in Brazil to contract the virus in the past month.

Corinthians and Peru international striker Paolo Guerrero this week returned to full training after being diagnosed with the mosquito borne disease last month.

Brazil has reported nearly 746,000 dengue cases this year with nine states experiencing an epidemic, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

Experts say the increase could be due to more people storing water because of drought.

The mosquito that transports the dengue virus breeds in containers with clear, still water.

Symptoms of the disease include fever, skin rashes, headache and joint pain. In rare cases it can develop into the life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever.

In the past five years Brazil has registered 3.2 million cases of dengue and 800 deaths. Endi