12 dead of dengue fever in Vietnam

12 dead of dengue fever in Vietnam

HANOI (AFP): At least 12 people have died of dengue fever in the southern Vietnamese province of Ben Tre and some 2,500 people have been hit by the disease, a report said yesterday.

The illness, caused by a virus spread through mosquito bites, has spread rapidly through the coastal area since the beginning of July, affecting mostly children aged between two and 14, the trades union newspaper Lao Dong said.

Dengue fever first appeared in Vietnam in 1969 and has never been brought completely under control with epidemics breaking out across the country each year.