HANOI, June 11 (Xinhuanet) -- Up to 15,000 people in Vietnam have been detected to suffer from dengue fever so far this year, a year-on-year rise of 80 percent.

    Of the patients, 29 died of the disease in the period, according to local newspaper People's Army on Friday.

    Large numbers of dengue fever suffers and fatalities are mainly due to climatic changes, complex development of fever-causing viruses, and lack of vaccine against the disease.

    Most of the patients live in Ho Chi Minh City and the southern provinces of Tien Giang, Dong Thap, Kien Giang and Soc Trang, whose weather is most favorable for the development of mosquitoes that are the main transmitter of the disease.

    To curb the spread of the disease, medicine prevention centers of localities nationwide have called for local people to use mosquito nets and intensify mosquito-killing activities.

    The country reported 35,073 cases of dengue fever infections, including 58 fatalities last year, year-on-year increases of 48 percent and 45 percent, respectively. Enditem