Jul 29, 2008 (DVB), Residents of Monywa township in Sagaing division have reported an outbreak of dengue haemorrhagic fever among children, some of whom are said to have died of the disease.

One local resident said the local health system had been overwhelmed by the number of cases.

"Monywa hospital was running out of beds for patients and families had to bring along their own beds so their children could be admitted to the hospital," the resident said.

"Children's clinics in town were packed with sick children."

He said most of the families had not noticed their children had been infected with dengue haemorrhagic fever until it had reached the final stages.

"We don’t know the precise number of deaths among children in town but there have been a number of them," he said.

"The authorities are not doing a very good job preventing local residents from catching the disease."

Another local said the authorities had been spraying insecticide in areas where the outbreak started to suppress the population of mosquitoes, the main carriers of the disease.

Reporting by Khin Hnin Htet