Public Health France has reported an additional 387 biologically confirmed and probable dengue fever cases in the past week on Reunion Island.

Aedes aegypti/CDC
Aedes aegypti/CDC

This brings the total since the beginning of the year to 3416 laboratory confirmed or probable cases.

Seventy-five people required hospitalization for their illness, nine with severe dengue.

Dengue fever is an infectious disease carried by mosquitoes and caused by any of four related dengue viruses. This disease used to be called “break-bone fever” because it sometimes causes severe joint and muscle pain that feels like bones are breaking.

People get the dengue virus from the bite of an infected Aedes mosquito. It is not contagious from person to person.

There are three types of dengue fever in order of less severe to most: the typical uncomplicated dengue fever, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHS) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS).

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there may be 50–100 million dengue infections worldwide every year. However, research from the University of Oxford and the Wellcome Trust, using cartographic approaches, estimate there to be 390 million dengue infections per year worldwide.