Paraguay suspends surgeries amid dengue outbreak

Dengue fever is raging in Paraguay, with 13,000 patients crowding public hospitals and 18 deaths this year.

Deputy Health Minister Edgar Gimenez says all elective surgeries are being suspended to free up beds.

He says it's unfortunate it took deaths to make people eliminate standing water where dengue-bearing mosquitoes breed.

There's no vaccine for so-called bonebreak fever, which causes pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Many patients get treated privately. More than 20,000 are thought to be infected overall. Gimenez called Wednesday for hiring 2,000 new doctors and nurses.

Paraguay's toll is already higher than in all of 2007, when 17 died of dengue. Neighboring Argentina has reported just one case this year.

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