HANOI, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Seventy people in Vietnam died of rabies in the first seven months of this year, local newspaper Vietnam Agriculture reported Tuesday.

    Most of the victims were from the northern provinces of Tuyen Quang, Phu Tho, Ha Tay and Yen Bai, the paper quoted Dinh Kim Xuyen, vice chairwoman of the Vietnamese Health Ministry's anti-rabies project, as saying.

    Vietnam has annually reported 80 fatalities due to rabies since2004, up from only 34 in 2003, she said, noting that the hike was due to small numbers of dogs and cats vaccinated against the disease.

    Nearly 5.9 million people in Vietnam have been bitten by rabies-infected dogs or cats in the last 10 years, much higher than the figure in the pre-1996 period, according to the ministry.

    Vietnam, with a population of some 85 million, is encouraging vaccinations among people and dogs in a bid to contain the disease by 2010 and eradicate it by 2015.