Even as Africa reels from the on-going Ebola crisis, Asia has been hit with a massive outbreak of dengue fever. In China, medical authorities in heavily-populated Guangdong Province reported a spike in infections, from 6,083 to 8,273, in just two days.

Spread by mosquitoes, dengue is one of the leading causes of death in the tropics. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), up to 400 million people are infected with the virus yearly.

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There is no vaccine, and while early treatment can reduce fatality to less than 1 percent, there is no specific therapy for dengue.

Dengue is endemic to Asia. This year's outbreak is 14 times greater than last year, a result, medical authorities say, of heavy rains across southern China. With larger amounts of standing water, the breeding ground for the disease-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, insect numbers have exploded.

Insecticide spraying, the most effective method of controlling the spread of the virus, is underway in infected areas, but health officials in Guangdong are also urging people to empty any outside containers of water, ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes, in hopes of pushing down the population. 

Also known as "breakbone disease" for the extreme joint pain it induces, pain behind the eyes, rashes, easy bruising, and headaches are hallmarks of infection. A more extreme variant of the virus, dengue hemmorhagic fever, causes vomiting of blood and is often fatal. Three have died in China thus far this year.

It is not just China that is contending with the outbreak. Southeast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent are also contending with dengue, as are the islands of the South Pacific, including Fiji. For the first time in 70 years, Japan also reported cases of the virus. Owning to invasive migrations of Aedes, dengue was introduced to the Americas in 2003 and is now widespread; in the United States, Hawaii, California and Florida experienced outbreaks last year. 

"Because of climate and environmental change and increasing international trade and travel, dengue may become more and more common in China," said Dr. Chen Xiaoguang, an infectious disease expert with the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, to the New York Times.  "So we have to strengthen our efforts against it." 

Tagsdengue, dengue mosquitoes