YANGON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Dengue fever has killed nearly 100 people in military-ruled Myanmar so far this year, amid a surge in cases of the mosquito-borne disease across Southeast Asia, officials said on Monday.

"Since January, there have been over 8,000 dengue fever cases in the whole country and 98 people have died. In July alone there were 32 deaths," a senior Health Ministry official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

By comparison, in the whole of 2006 the former Burma had 11,000 cases and 130 deaths, the official said.

The World Health Organisation said last month the Western Pacific region could be at risk from a major dengue outbreak unless governments improved efforts to stamp out the virus.

About 40 percent of the world's population is at risk from dengue, which has spread rapidly across Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand this year due to warmer weather, heavy rain and crowded cities.

The virus, transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, causes severe fever, headaches, rashes and muscle and joint pain. Severe forms can cause haemorrhagic fever. There is no vaccine.

AlertNet news is provided by