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.