El Salvador fights dengue outbreak

The authorities in El Salvador have begun house-to-house fumigation in several areas of the country in an attempt to contain an outbreak of dengue fever.

The deadly dengue virus, which is spread by mosquitos, has claimed the lives of at least seven children since January -- almost twice the number killed in the whole of last year.

Another seven hundred people are reported to be infected: a hundred of them have a potentially fatal strain of the virus, which causes hemorrhaging.

A state of high alert has been declared in about a-third of the country, and health officials have made an urgent appeal for blood donors to come forward.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service