Santo Domingo.– Dominican health authorities said they managed to reduce dengue infections as the number of reported cases had started to drop in the country.

According to Health Minister Nelson Rodriguez, the preventive measures taken have reduced the number of people going to hospitals. "We hope to witness an even larger drop in the number of dengue infections in the country."

Last week the health authorities issued a nationwide alert for the dengue epidemic while launching a cleaning campaign to control the spread of the mosquito which carries the disease, after 44 of the 4,998 reported patients of dengue had died.

Rodriguez said the actual number of dengue infections could be larger due to the fact that those with light dengue symptoms did not go to hospitals for treatment.