Dengue Kills 30 in Burma

A senior Burmese health official says dengue fever has killed 30 people across the country this year.

Than Winn told the "Myanmar Times" newspaper there have been three-thousand cases of the mosquito-born disease in the first six months of this year. He said that is a much higher infection rate than the same period last year.

Than Winn said dengue fever killed 130 people last year. He did not say how many died in the first half of 2006.

Dengue fever often surges during and after the rainy season, which usually begins in June in Burma.

Dengue is on the rise across Southeast Asia, hitting Cambodia and Thailand particularly hard.