A group of health workers take out their large fumigation equipment and spray the product in the classrooms of Rafael Landivar School in Guatemala, where principal Ingrid Avila has already excused several children from school because of dengue. Guatemala, where at least 12 people have died and 18,256 have been infected with dengue this year, is one of several Central American countries affected by the Aedes mosquito-borne disease, which has claimed a dozen lives in Panama and 11 in Honduras and forced some Latin American countries to declare states of emergency, according to local health officials. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES