Brazil is sending at least 600 health professionals to help hospitals in Rio de Janeiro state that have been overwhelmed by an outbreak of dengue fever.

In addition, hundreds more workers are being deployed to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquito that spreads the disease.  They will be spraying insecticides and looking for puddles of standing water where the mosquito usually breeds.

Forty-nine people have died of dengue fever in Rio de Janeiro state so far this year, while 33,000 have been made ill. 

Victims are generally incapacitated by severe headaches, muscle and joint pain.  There is no vaccine for dengue and treatment is usually limited to rest and fluids. 

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.