DENGUE fever is striking down almost twice as many people on Phuket this year, an alarming increase. Fortunately, so far no deaths have been recorded.

The pain is, however, increasing dramatically. In 2009, a total of 309 people came down with dengue fever on Phuket during the whole year. Already in 2010, from January to July, 383 people have suffered with dengue.

This compares with 194 in the same period of 2009 . . . so numbers are now very close to doubling.

The Public Health Department, which collates the figures, also leads the campaign to reduce the number of cases. Lately, the battle is being lost.

This may well be because people fail to understand the cause, and the solution. Phuketwan has been there, done that.

Dengue fever is more painful that any experience we've had, and that includes the self-induced agony of running a marathon.

Child birth, mothers tell us, can be extremely painful. We'd welcome a message from someone who has experienced both dengue AND childbirth, so we have a sense of which impregnation of one kind or another results in the most pain.

This reporter's experience began in a small cemetery near Phuket, while looking for a lost grave. Someone in the car, parked nearby, stuck their head out and said: ''The whole place is full of dengue mosquitoes! Run for it!''

I made it back to the car in a rush, but so did a few mosquitoes. I crushed 'em left, right and centre. Here's hoping the sucker that got me was one of the ones I crushed.

A day or so later, I came down with a fever and tried to shake it. No chance. This was no passing case of the ''Phuket shakes.''

Eventually, after not sleeping for almost two full days, I admitted defeat and was taken to hospital. The doctors quickly diagnosed dengue.

By that time, I was badly dehydrated and need a saline drip. The morphine provided wonderful relief.

People warned me that dengue attacks the joints and makes them ache, but in my case, it was all in the head.

It was as though every tooth in my skull was being pounded by a muscle-bound cage-fighter, armed with a sledge-hammer. ''Excruciating'' is one of those words that can be misinterpreted.

Someone who stubs their toe on a step can talk about ''excruciating'' pain. I'd be happy to swap my excruciating pain for theirs, with no complaints.

Three days later, I was out of hospital. For two weeks, it was difficult to be normal, and the mental damage lingered for a lot longer (some people might even say I've never been the same since).

As for beating dengue before it strikes, awareness and action are the answers. Don't leave any small pools of water where dengue carriers and other mosquitoes can breed.

Public Health advises that a little salt in pools that can't be easily swept away will stop the mosquitoes breeding.

While it would be wrong for one tourist destination to gloat about the problems of a rival, it should be pointed out that Phuket has a concern about dengue. Meanwhile, Bali is dealing with a serious outbreak of rabies.

I am not keen to take my guinea-pig comparisons of pain any further than dengue and childbirth. Rabies? No thanks.