A package of news briefs from the Caribbean

CARIBBEAN: Dengue surges in region, Latin America, causing pain for hundreds of thousands

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) _ Dengue fever is spreading across Latin America and the Caribbean in one of the worst outbreaks in decades, causing agonizing joint pain for hundreds of thousands of people and killing nearly 200 so far this year.

The mosquitoes that carry dengue are thriving in expanded urban slums scattered with water-collecting trash and old tires. Experts say dengue is approaching record levels this year as many countries enter their wettest months.

Dengue has already damaged the economies of countries across the region by driving away tourists, according to a document prepared for a PAHO conference beginning Monday in Washington.

Some countries have focused mosquito eradication efforts on areas popular with tourists. Mexico sent hundreds of workers to the resorts of Puerto Vallarta, Cancun and Acapulco this year to try to avert outbreaks.

Health ministers from across the region meet at the PAHO conference and San Martin said he will urge them to devote more resources to dengue fever.

In Puerto Rico, where 5,592 suspected cases and three deaths have been reported, some lawmakers called this week for the health secretary to resign.

In the Dominican Republic, which has reported 25 deaths this year, the health department announced Thursday that it would train 2.5 million public school students to encourage parents and neighbors to eliminate standing water.

JAMAICA: Caribbean country tries to stem human smuggling, exploitation to improve US ranking

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) _ Jamaica is trying to crack down on trafficking and exploitation of people to improve its standing in an annual U.S. report, the government said Saturday.

Carol Palmer, a senior official in the Ministry of Justice, said the government has recently enacted longer prison terms and heavier fines for those convicted of trafficking in people for sex or forced labor.

The Caribbean country is also increasing the number of shelters and services for trafficking victims, Palmer said.

The annual U.S. State Department report on trafficking in persons released in June gave Jamaica a "Tier 2" ranking as a nation that does not fully comply with minimum standards, but which is making significant efforts to meet them.

"As we work toward Tier 1, the focus is on effective investigation and prosecution. There is no guarantee that we can get convictions, so we just have to prepare the ground and go to court and see what comes of it," Palmer said.

Jamaica has moved up from the Tier 3 classification it received in 2005, a rank in which nations can be subject to U.S. sanctions, including loss of some forms of aid.

PUERTO RICO: Researcher says island has high rates of rare disorder that causes albinism

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) _ Communities in the northwest corner of Puerto Rico have disproportionately high numbers of inhabitants diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder that causes albinism and slew of serious health problems, a U.S. researcher said at a conference on the disease Saturday.

William Gahl, a National Institutes of Health researcher who is an expert on Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome, said the U.S. territory's northwestern towns have high rates of the inherited disease, which causes bleeding problems, lung fibrosis and chronic bowel disease in addition to the pigmentation deficiencies suffered by albinos.

"Per capita, it is definitively certain that Puerto Rico is the place with greatest number of cases," Gahl said at an annual conference on the little-known disorder in the central city of Caguas.

Gahl said that roughly one in 2,000 Puerto Ricans suffers from Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome, which is named for the two Czech physicians who first described it in 1959.

Myrna Borges, a genetic researcher at the San Juan Bautista Medical Center in Caguas, said the unusual genetic disorder likely arrived on the tropical island through a Spanish colonizer centuries ago. One in every 33 Puerto Ricans is a gene carrier, she said.

Researchers say the disorder, which often leads to fatal lung fibrosis by 40, has long been a mysterious problem in Puerto Rican families. The syndrome can be found throughout the rest of the globe, but infrequently.