DHAKA At least seven people have died of a mysterious disease in the bordering district of Meherpur in western Bangladesh, DPA reported on Friday.

Five of the dead were members of the same family. The disease has struck at least 46 other people in neighboring districts.

Meherpur's chief medical officer, Abdul Malek, said three people were fighting for their lives in a local hospital.

Malek denied newspaper reports that the undiagnosed disease had assumed epidemic proportions.

Doctors suspect that the disease, which is accompanied by high fever and the vomiting of blood, is caused by a virus carried by mosquitoes.

Pathologists in the capital Dhaka said they were trying to identify the virus, which reportedly was spreading fast in the area.