Dengue fever is on the rise in Malaysia and the nation faces an outbreak unless efforts to eradicate virus-carrying mosquitoes are stepped up, Health Minister Chua Soi Lek said today.

"Cases are increasing every week. We are giving a warning that if we are not careful and do not improve cleanliness we will be faced with a dengue outbreak," he told reporters.

"There are a number of hotspots in the country. Worst hit is the southwest of Penang," he said, adding that Kuala Lumpur and Selangor state which surrounds the capital were also badly affected.

Dengue has been declared across all of Penang island, Malaysia's technology capital and an important tourist destination, where a 25-year-old woman and her unborn twins died from the disease this week.

Chua said that in 2004, Malaysia recorded 102 deaths and 33,000 suspected cases of dengue fever, but in nearly nine months so far this year there had already been 27,569 suspected cases and 70 deaths.

But he said the major concern was a dramatic upsurge in cases reported in recent weeks, from 507 in the first week in September, to 752 last week.

The minister rapped the public over their failure to take part in campaigns to combat the aedes mosquito which breeds easily in stagnant pools such as rainwater collected in gutters and containers left in the open.

Avoid hotspots

"Based on the growing trend, the number of cases will increase. We are worried. People are taking it easy, we are virtually telling the people the outbreak is coming," he said.

"The main cause of the dengue cases is the indifferent attitude of the public," he added. "From my experience, when we organise public cleaning programmes the response from the local community is cold."

On the death of the heavily pregnant Penang woman, he said "we are fully sympathetic to any deaths, but she should have sought treatment earlier".

Asked whether Malaysia's tourism industry would be affected, Chua said visitors should avoid regions worst hit by dengue, which produces symptoms including high fever, severe head and muscle pain, rashes and nausea.

"It's safe to come to Malaysia. Like all endemic diseases, you have to avoid the hotspots, then you will be safe," he said.

Chua said eradication teams would travel to each state to help contain the outbreaks, targeting construction sites in particular, and using larvicides which wipe out mosquitoes while sparing other insects which are natural predators.

The Health Ministry's deputy director of disease control Marzukhi Mohamed Isa told the official Bernama news agency that the major campaign to combat the spread of the virus would begin on Saturday.

Singapore hit too

He said the drive would focus on Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang and Johor in the south which lies nearest to Singapore, which is also in the grips of a dengue outbreak.

Education Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said yesterday that schools considered to be at high risk of a dengue epidemic should be closed down immediately.

"We know of schools in the high-risk category and are monitoring them with the local authorities and the Health Ministry," he said, according to Bernama .

In Singapore, the death toll from the city-state's worst dengue outbreak on record rose to 11 on Monday with total cases in 2005 now approaching 11,000, according to the Health Ministry.

Singapore has launched an all-out campaign to eradicate mosquito breeding grounds but the efforts have failed to curb the outbreak, and press reports said new cases have reached a record high for a single week.

Puzzled by their inability to stem the outbreak, Singapore authorities have engaged foreign and local experts to study the dengue crisis and advise the government on the best strategy to deal with the problem.