The death toll has risen to 175 in a dengue fever outbreak in Indonesia that has killed more than double the number of usual victims, raising fears of a new deadly strain of the disease, a senior official said on Thursday.
"The latest update is 8,735 cases, with 175 people dead," Health Minister Ahmad Sujudi told reporters, raising the toll by 14 in just one day. Densely populated Java island was hardest hit, accounting for more than half of the total cases, Sujudi said.
Neighbouring Singapore has reported a surge of dengue fever cases to a five-year high of 4,772 in 2003, including six deaths.
Dengue fever, carried by the aedes aegpty mosquito, strikes Indonesia every year, starting in January and peaking in May or June at the end of rainy season in the tropical country.
But the death toll so far this year is more than double the same period last year, officials have said.
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