Guangdong reports 664 dengue cases

Guangdong Province, south China, has seen 664 reported-dengue cases so far this year, down 84.2 percent from the same period a year ago, health authorities said Friday.

Of that number, 73 had caught dengue outside of Guangdong. The city of Chaozhou has been hit hardest with 570 cases, or roughly 86 percent of all in Guangdong.

The Guangdong Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission warned that the outbreak in Chaozhou since September may not be over yet.

The commission urged the public to take protective measures to avoid mosquito bites, and be extra careful if they must travel to regions known to have dengue cases.

It also called on schools, communities and other public places to clean up rubbish and ground drain water, and take measures to kill mosquitos.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne, potentially fatal disease that mainly affects people in tropical and subtropical regions, causing fever, nausea, as well as muscle and joint aches.

Guangdong reported the majority of China's 46,000 dengue cases last year, including more than 35,000 in the provincial capital Guangzhou. Endi