Thai women told to stop mosquitoes with jeans

Thai health authorities are urging women not to wear fashionable black leggings to avoid attracting dengue fever-carrying mosquitoes.

They recommend thick clothes such as jeans after a dengue outbreak.

This year 26 out of 43 dengue deaths in Thailand were of people between the ages of 10 and 24. There have been 40,000 cases this year, a significant increase on the 31,929 cases and 30 deaths in 2009.

"I suggest people avoid wearing black leggings - or any dark coloured clothing - so as not to attract mosquitoes," sadi deputy health minister Pansiri Kulanartsiri.

"Wear thick clothing like jeans, particularly during this period."

Dengue is endemic in Southeast Asia and a chronic problem during the rainy season, when stagnant water and unsanitary urban environments provide fertile breeding grounds for mosquitoes that transmit the disease.