HANOI, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam detected over 14,000 dengue fever patients in the first five months of this year, a year-on-year rise of 10 percent, local media reported Tuesday.

    Of the patients, 10 have died of dengue fever, up 20 percent over the same period last year; Young People newspaper quoted the Vietnamese Ministry of Health as reporting.

    Most of the infection cases are from southern region where weather conditions and local people's habit of storing water in containers at their houses favor the breeding of mosquitoes, the disease's transmitter.

    Local healthcare agencies are asking residents to frequently clean up environment around their accommodations, mainly by keeping water containers close and clean and killing mosquitoes and their larvae.

    In 2006, Vietnam faced over 77,800 cases of dengue fever infections, including 68 fatalities. Up to 84 percent of the infections and 91 percent of the deaths were reported in the southern region.