The death toll from dengue fever in the Dominican Republic, where some 8,704 cases of the disease have been registered, has risen to 59 so far this year, according to a Health Ministry report released Thursday.

Dengue fever has mostly affected the northern, central and southern regions of the country, including the capital, Santo Domingo, where 76 percent of cases reported in the past month were located, the report said.

In the past week alone, the health sector reported three deaths and 602

cases of infection. According to local press, one of the victims was a three-year-old boy from eastern Santo Domingo.

Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne infection that causes flu-like symptoms, but can be debilitating in infants, small children, and the elderly.

At the beginning of October 2012, the Dominican government declared a nationwide dengue fever outbreak that had at that point infected 5,800 people and led to 12 deaths.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that while there is no specific treatment for the disease as yet, early detection and medical treatment can reduce the mortality rate to less than one percent. 

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