At least 4,800 cases of dengue fever have been reported in Guangdong Province, including the capital Guangzhou, and two people who were suffering from the disease died, according to Xinhua news agency.

Wang Ming, of Guangzhou's Disease Prevention and Control Center, said medical experts would be determining whether the elderly victims had died as a direct result of the disease. Wang said both patients had been "almost cured" of the fever.

"This year's outbreak, which began in June, is the most serious in the past 10 years in Guangzhou," Wang said.

There had been 1,021 cases confirmed in the city by September 4, and hundreds more over the following two weeks, Wang told the Yangcheng Evening News.

At least 12 patients in the city were in a critical condition, most of them elderly people with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, heart diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes and other common diseases related to old age, the Guangzhou-based newspaper said.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne, potentially fatal disease that affects up to 100 million people in tropical and subtropical regions every year, causing fever as well as aching muscles and joints. Disease control center experts advise anyone with symptoms such as a fever and headaches to see a doctor.



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