To fight dengue epidemic, health agents in Brazil scour junkyards and roofs for mosquitos

By DIANE JEANTET
Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Local public health officials in Rio de Janeiro have been scouring the city’s neighborhoods and even its junkyards for signs of standing water where mosquitoes can lay their eggs. It’s part of nationwide efforts to curtail a surge in Brazil of the mosquito-borne illness of dengue fever during the country’s key tourist season that runs through the end of February. So far this year, Brazil has recorded 512,000 cases, nearly four times more than those registered in the same period a year ago.