BANGKOK, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Ministry of Public Health announced on Thursday that the number of dengue fever patients nationwide has risen to over 10,000 and 14 people have been killed by the dangerous disease this year.

    Until June 7, a total of 11,574 dengue fever patients, most of them between 10-24, have been found across the country, especially in the central, northeastern and southern Thailand, a public health official said.

    The high-danger season of dengue fever is July but earlier-than-usual rains has meant that dengue is a greater concern this year than before, the official was quoted by local radio FM 100 as saying, adding that the insurgency in the far South means that anti-mosquito measures are more difficult to apply.

    More breeding grounds for dengue-carrying mosquitoes emerge during the rainy season, he explained, especially in the three southernmost provinces where heavier rainfall contributes to a higher population of mosquitoes than in the country's other regions.

    The Ministry of Public Health has ordered health officials to work with local authorities to prevent the further spread on any outbreak.