"The number of infections looks set to increase next month,"

Dr Patjuban Hemhongsa, Tak's public health chief, said yesterday.

The infection rate for the whole country this year has reached 8.78 per 100,000 people, he said.

Dr Kittisak Klabdee, inspector-general for the Public Health Ministry's Area 2, said dengue fever usually breaks out from June to August. He called for urgent measures to eradicate the breeding grounds of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the carrier of the disease.

Area 2 covers Tak, Phitsanulok, Phetchabun, Uttaradit and Sukhothai.

Suntorn Jantorn, president of the Taluk Klangthong Tambon Administrative Organisation in Tak and chief of the local public health volunteers, said his tambon was now free of the infectious disease because residents had acted seriously to wipe out the striped mosquitoes.

"We used to see the highest number of infections compared to other areas in Tak's Muang district but now we don't have a single case," Suntorn said.

Kittisak said still water in vases, tubs or other containers should be changed at least once a week to prevent larvae from growing up into the mosquitoes.

Area 2 has launched a campaign to create awareness of how to prevent dengue-fever infections among local people.