A total of 30 people died in Myanmar out of 3,000 infected with dengue fever in the first half of this year, higher than that of the same period of 2006, local media reported Sunday.

The health authorities have warned the public to take precaution against DF especially during the current monsoon season which started last month, said the Myanmar Times in its next weekly issue (July 9-15) pre-published on Sunday.

The highest number of the DF cases occurred in southern Mon state, followed by Yangon and Ayeyawaddy divisions during the half-year period, the report said.

According to statistics, 11,049 people were infected with DF in the country resulting in 130 deaths in 2006.

Dengue fever cases once dropped in Yangon city in 2006 thanks to preventive measures taken against the disease.

The dengue fever cases in Yangon declined to 1,531 with 18 deaths in 2006 from 5,621 cases with 40 deaths in 2005.

The dengue fever cases were attributed to heavy population and poor stream-water flow in some areas in the 680-square-kilometer Yangon which has a population of 6 million.

The health authorities have occasionally advised people to take necessary measures to prevent and control the disease, including hygienic use of drinking water, combating larvae, week-end sanitation activities and education talks on the dengue fever, which is analyzed as being spread by a species of mosquito active during the day.

According to official statistics, nearly 13,000 dengue fever cases occurred in Myanmar in 2005, a sharp increase from the previous year's 6,000. The figures represented the second biggest outbreak of the mosquito-borne viral disease since 2001 when it was reported as 15,695.

Of the 6,000 dengue fever cases reported during 2004, nearly half of which were also in Yangon, especially in the Southeastern area of Thaketa, according to the health department.

The authorities warned that the Aedes mosquito carrying the virus put residents in heavily populated areas at increased risk of contracting the disease than other urban areas, adding that there is no specific treatment or vaccine for the dengue fever.

Dengue fever usually breaks out during and after the rainy season and children aged under 12 are particularly vulnerable to the disease.

Broken out in Myanmar intermittently, the dengue fever was first detected in Yangon in 1969 and a major outbreak of the disease followed in 1970, which was confined in Yangon until 1973. The first case in northern Mandalay division was detected in 1974 and major outbreaks had occurred in the division about every four years with most recent in 2001 and 2005.