With a dengue fever outbreak gripping Cambodia, Dr. Ngan Chantha, deputy director of the National Malaria Center, appeared on "Hello VOA" Thursday to discuss symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of the disease.

Agence France-Presse reported Thursday that as many children were killed in the first six months of 2007 as died in 2006 from the mosquito-borne illness. Since January, an estimated 7,655 Cambodian children under the age of 15 have been hospitalized with dengue, AFP reported. Of those, 109 died.

Listeners asked whether dengue happened to adults as well, whether a skin test could diagnose the disease and what other symptoms accompanied the disease, also known as "bone-break fever."

Ngan Chantha said adults and children across Asia were being affected in higher number this year, but that sometimes a skin test failed to identify the disease because a victim had it for an extended period of time. He encouraged people to visit a hospital if a fever held for 24 to 48 hours without breaking.