Cuba launches massive anti-dengue campaign

 　　HAVANA, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Cuba's Ministry¹ of Public Health launched an intensive sanitation² campaign Monday against the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which can spread dengue fever.

　　The operation, which is running through Sept. 15, will cover the most vulnerable cities in the country, including the capital Havana and the eastern city Guantanamo.

　　Deputy Health Minister Luis Estruch stressed the importance of the prevention campaign and urged all families to check their houses for mosquitoes each week.

　　Maria Guadalupe Guzman, director of the Pan-American and World Health Organization Cooperation Center for the Study of Dengue and Its Vector at the Pedro Kouri Institute of Tropical Medicine, said the epidemiological situation in the country is stable. However, she warned that an epidemic³ outbreak is still possible in the island state, given the high temperatures and heavy rains in the eastern areas, and drought in the west.

　　Cuba, along with Chile and Uruguay, are the only Latin American countries where dengue is not endemic.

　　In 1981, the country suffered its worst dengue outbreak in history, which left 158 dead.

1 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

2 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

3 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。