Acute Diarrhea Kills 6 Children in Northern Vietnam

Acute diarrhea has killed six children in Vietnam’s northern province of Cao Bang, the online www.vietnamnet.vn newspaper reported June 5, citing a local health official. The epidemic has broken out in the province from May 19, affecting more than 140 people, said Ly Thi Tung, director of the province’s department of health.  All the affected live in Bao Lam district’s Duc Hanh commune which is named among the province’s poorest areas, Tung noted. Local health taskforces have isolated the patients and sterilize the affected areas to prevent the disease spread. Authorities of the southern province of Ben Tre June 3 recorded three more people contracting the cholera virus, raising the locality’s total cases to 24 since early this year. Cholera has attacked eight provinces and cities across the country, comprising Hanoi, Haiphong, Bac Ninh, Ha Nam, Hai Duong, Ho Chi Minh City, Tay Ninh and Ben Tre, since early this year, affecting 31 people.