“Health authorities in Brazil say there has been a steep rise in the confirmed cases of dengue fever this year,” with “more than 200,000 people … infected in the first seven weeks of 2013 compared to 70,000 in the same period last year, official figures suggest,” BBC News reports. “Health Minister Alexandre Padilha said that despite the higher incidence, the cases had been less severe than those recorded last year,” but he “warned state authorities not to let down their guard as the rainy season could exacerbate the situation, with standing water providing an ideal breeding ground for the mosquitoes carrying the disease,” the news service writes. According to BBC, “More than half of the cases have been caused by the DENV-4 strain of the virus, which was first detected in Brazil in 2011” (2/26).