In a northern Italian village, a tropical epidemic

CASTIGLIONE DI CERVIA, Italy: Panic was spreading in August through this tidy village of 2,000 as one person after another fell ill with weeks of high fever, exhaustion and excruciating bone pain, just as most of Italy was enjoying Ferragosto, its most important summer holiday.

"At one point, I simply couldn't stand up to get out of the car - I fell," said Antonio Ciano, 62, an elegant retiree in a pashmina scarf and trendy blue glasses. "I thought 'O.K., my time is up. I'm going to die.' It was really that dramatic."

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