OUAGADOUGOU, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Burkina Faso's health ministry has declared a dengue fever epidemic amid the deadliest outbreak in years in which more than 200 people have died and new cases are rising sharply. Lack of treatment or misdiagnosis, common in poverty-stricken countries such as Burkina Faso where healthcare is spotty, increase the chance of death. Burkina Faso's outbreak dwarfs other African outbreaks in recent years. According to figures from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, dengue killed 18 people in Burkina Faso in 2017 and 15 in 2016. The health ministry said that it was providing free rapid diagnostic tests and had organised spraying of insecticide in public places to counter the spread.

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Persons: Bobo Dioulasso, Anait Miridzhanian, Edward McAllister, Alex Richardson Organizations: World Health Organization, Africa, for Disease Control, Thomson Locations: OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina, Ouagadougou, Africa, Burkina Faso