Peru is reeling from record case counts of dengue fever. What's driving the outbreak?

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/06/21/ [login to see] /peru-is-reeling-from-record-case-counts-of-dengue-fever-whats-driving-the-outbre
For Lorena Vigo, getting dengue, the virus once known as "breakbone fever," was like no illness she had previously experienced.

On top of the headache, upset stomach and aching joints, she bled from her gums after coming down last month with the mosquito-borne virus in Piura. That's the city of 600,000 residents in northern Peru that is the epicenter of the Andean nation's record-breaking dengue outbreak.

"There were no beds at the hospital," says the 43-year-old, explaining how she was unable to use the public health insurance that she pays into monthly as the health-care system was overwhelmed by the epidemic.

"Everyone I knew got it. At the hospital pharmacy [where her insurance would be accepted], the queue was so long that I didn't even bother to line up. I ended up paying for my own medicines and just treated myself at home."

So far this year, nearly 150,000 Peruvians have come down with the disease, according to the Pan American Health Organization. The current death toll is 248 in what is by far Latin America's most intense dengue outbreak.