The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) has warned against the worst outbreak of dengue in Asia in nearly a decade. Reports are surfacing of thousands of people affected by the illness in Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries.

The worst hit country by this mosquito-borne virus is Cambodia, where the disease has attacked about 25,000 people and killed nearly 300 children this year. According to WHO, the figures in Cambodia are worrisome as they are about three times more than the number of cases for all of 2005

The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that the number of deaths from dengue fever this year may match the 1,500 fatalities recorded in 1998 as people continue to die from the disease caused by a type of mosquito, a local newspaper reported.

A WHO official, speaking from the international body's regional office in Manila, told the Manila Times that this year could be as worst as 1998 in terms of dengue casualties

There has been a 50 percent increase in the number of dengue infections in the first 4 1/2 months of this year in Singapore, compared to the same period in 2006, authorities said Monday. The country had 180 new cases of dengue reported last week - an all-time high figure.

According to the Health Ministry, Dengue cases reported from the start of January to May 12 rose to 1,488, up from 993 in the corresponding period last year. The sudden rise is attributed to the onset of warm weather during this period of the year and a different strain of the virus spreading in the tropical city-state of 4.5 million

Media reports from Paraguay confirm that dengue fever has reportedly taken the life of the country's top health official on Friday. Maria Catalina Roa, a supervisor for registered nurses in all public hospitals, had been hospitalized two weeks ago after contracting the mosquito-borne illness.

It is the latest casualty in an epidemic that has infected 15,000 people in January and February alone, compared to just 1,600 all last year. So far ten people have died

Paraguay's Ministry of Health on Monday confirmed that the number of dengue fever cases in the country increased sharply this January, as authorities initiate measures to address the growing problem.

An official from the ministry said that over 140 dengue fever cases had been reported in the capital Asuncion and surrounding communities in the first two weeks of the year