COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Australia is helping Sri Lanka combat the deadly mosquito-borne disease dengue fever that has claimed 250 lives and infected nearly 100,000 so far this year in the Indian ocean island nation.

Visiting foreign minister Julie Bishop said Wednesday night that Australia is giving 475,000 dollars (US $377,000) to the World Health Organization to implement immediate dengue prevention, management and eradication programs in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is suffering its worst-ever dengue outbreak and hospitals are overcrowded with patients.

Bishop said Australia is also offering an additional 1 million dollars (US $795,000) for a research partnership between Australia's Monash University and Sri Lanka's Health Ministry to test the introduction of naturally occurring Wolbachia bacteria to eradicate dengue fever from Sri Lanka.

She said the bacteria "prevent transmission of dengue virus between humans" and that it has shown success during the last six years in countries such as Brazil, Columbia, Australia, India, Vietnam and Indonesia where it was piloted.

The bacteria has the ability to block other mosquito-borne diseases such as Zika and Chikungunya, the Australian embassy said in a statement.

Alarmed by the magnitude of the crisis, the government has deployed hundreds of soldiers, police and health officials across the country to inspect houses and clear rotting garbage, stagnant water pools and other potential mosquito-breeding grounds.

Health officials blamed the public for their failure to clear puddles and piles of trash after last month's heavy monsoon rains had compounded the problem.

The number of infections nationwide is already 38 percent higher than last year, when 55,150 people were diagnosed with dengue and 97 died, according to the Health Ministry. The highest number of cases is in the region around the main city of Colombo, though cases were being reported across the tropical island nation.

Bishop is on a two-day visit to the island nation, and she will meet Thursday with government leaders.