COLOMBO, July 21 (Xinhua) -- The number of dengue deaths has risen to 190 while more than 18,452 cases have been reported in Sri Lanka so far, government officials said on Tuesday.

    The Department of Government Information said in a statement that the majority of these cases have been reported from areas like Gampaha, Kegalle, Kandy and Colombo.

    As part of the efforts to control Dengue fever, two Dengue specialists from Cuba arrived in the capital Colombo on Tuesday to help health officials to handle the fast spreading Dengue epidemic in the island, the statement said.

    Health officials said of the 18,452 cases the highest number of patients was reported from June, totaling 7,005.

    This represents a sharp increase as 4,156 dengue cases and 85 deaths were reported for the whole year of 2008.

    Government officials said dengue virus has hit countrywide this year affecting mostly the youth, many of them being students.

    The rapidly rise in the level of the epidemic has forced the health authorities to carry out extensive public awareness campaign to eradicate the mosquito based epidemic.

    Households have been warned to keep the environment free of mosquitoes. Those who allow the mosquitoes to breed by allowing stagnating water face prosecution with a special hotline being made available for public information.

    The World Health Organization said some 2.5 billion people, two fifths of the world's population, are now at risk from dengue and estimated that there may be 50 million cases of dengue infection worldwide every year.