Dengue fever is on the rise in Mali, where officials are reporting new infections and deaths from the virus this week. Mali's director general of health and public hygiene, Dr Cheick Amadou Tidiane Traore, told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday that his department had counted 21 deaths and 600 cases of the virus as of Monday. Dengue is a viral infection spread by mosquitoes that mostly causes flu-like illness. In severe cases, the disease can cause joint pain, swollen glands, severe bleeding and death.