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"Cover your belongings," warns Diakaria Fofana, a public health doctor, as a thick cloud of insecticides sprays a street in Abidjan, the economic capital of Cote d'Ivoire.
Men dressed in protective clothing, goggles and masks release plumes of anti-mosquito chemicals to reverse a dengue epidemic.
Two people have died and 130 have fallen ill since fever returned to the state of West Africa last month.
The record, so far, is minimal compared to that of other tropical countries, particularly in South-East Asia, where the painful and sometimes fatal disease constitutes an undeniable danger.
But fighting the epidemic is a major challenge for Côte d 'Ivoire, a poor country that has to rely on spraying methods and intensive use, as well as awareness campaigns. neighborhoods to prevent its spread.
Female mosquitoes carrying the dengue virus transfer the pathogen when they eat a blood meal at someone's home.
A vaccine exists, but is not available in Ivory Coast because "it has many side effects (and) it's expensive," explained Joseph Vroh Benie Bi, director of the 39, National Institute of Public Hygiene (INHP).
Developed by the French pharmaceutical group Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccine is recommended for use in people aged nine years and over, and only in people already infected.
Usually accompanied by flu-like symptoms, dengue makes some people very ill and turns into a hemorrhagic fever that can lead to breathing difficulties, heavy bleeding or even an organ failure. Although a first episode of dengue fever is rarely fatal, subsequent infections are usually more severe.
& # 39; Fight the mosquito & # 39;
According to the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), there are up to 100 million dengue cases worldwide each year and nearly half of the world's population lives in countries where the disease is endemic.
It kills more than 20,000 people each year. Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific are the most affected regions.
WHO recommends that patients take paracetamol, rest and drink plenty of fluids.
Five new vaccines are in development but, in the meantime, Fofana said: "The only effective way to fight dengue is to fight the mosquito."
In Côte d 'Ivoire, most of the registered cases occurred in Abidjan.
Health workers strive to engage the public in mosquito control, targeting their life cycle.
"Larvae multiply in stagnant waters, for example in worn tires," said Fofana, deputy director of the INHP vector control unit.
"People should never store water in buckets in the open and should regularly throw water in plates under the indoor plants."
But he faces tough work in a sprawling port city of 4.4 million residents in the rainy season.
In addition, infected people, unknowingly, can spread the virus to new areas when bitten by local mosquitoes.
The WHO has set a goal of halving the number of deaths from dengue fever by 2020, but the incidence of the disease has increased 30-fold over the past 50 years. last years.
"Before 1970, only nine countries had experienced severe dengue epidemics, and the disease is now endemic in more than 100 countries," it said.
"The big brother of malaria"
In Ivory Coast, where malaria accounts for one-third of all medical consultations, many people self-medicate when they experience symptoms such as high fever, vomiting, nausea or pain.
"This is a real problem because the symptoms of malaria, dengue, typhus and yellow fever are similar, and a blood test is absolutely necessary," Fofana said.
Treatment with the wrong drugs can make matters worse, he said. For example, aspirin or ibuprofen may increase the risk of bleeding.
In the meantime, the spraying continues.
"We know the risks," said Bamba Segbe, a resident of Abidjan observing the masked men in action. "It's not for nothing that we call the big brother of dengue malaria."
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