DENGUE FEVER WARNING ISSUED.

Byline: The New York Times

A comeback in Latin America and the Caribbean of dengue fever, a disease once thought to have been nearly eliminated, has prompted health officials to warn travelers to those areas to take some simple precautions to reduce the risks of contracting the disease.

Health officials say visitors should use insect repellent and make sure their hotel rooms are free of insects.

Dengue fever is characterized by the sudden onset of a high fever, rash, severe headaches, nausea and vomiting. The malady is also known as breakbone fever because of the excruciating pain in the joints and muscles that often accompanies it. The hemorrhagic variety is mosquito-borne too, but is much more severe than classic dengue and can cause heavy external and internal bleeding, shock and, in about 10 percent of reported cases, death.

Outbreaks in more than a dozen countries in recent months led the Pan American Health Organization to designate dengue fever an epidemic. The largest number of cases of classic dengue, some 88,000, has been reported in Brazil, with two states heavily visited by foreign tourists, Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, registering the most severe outbreaks.

For information on dengue fever from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, call the Traveler's Hot Line at [phone].