TAIPEI, Dec. 2 -- A total of 13,919 Taiwan residents have contracted dengue fever this year, with 17 deaths reported, the island's disease control authorities said Tuesday.

Among the infected, 119 were diagnosed with dengue hemorrhagic fever, the most serious type of the disease, according to the latest figures released by the authorities.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne, potentially fatal disease that affects up to 100 million people in tropical and subtropical regions every year, causing fever and muscle pain.

This year Taiwan has experienced its worst outbreak of the disease in the past decade, when cases rarely exceeded 2,000, according to the disease control authority.

Warmer weather since April and increased rainfall have been blamed for the disease's outbreak in the island's southern areas.

The spread of the disease is easing as the weather gets colder in Taiwan, said the disease control authority.