HANOI, April 18 (Xinhua) -- As many as 70 new acute diarrhea patients from 10 Vietnamese cities and provinces were hospitalized on Thursday, of whom three were tested positive to cholera virus, local newspaper Youth on Friday quoted the Vietnamese Health Ministry as reporting.

    The new cases have raised the total number of acute diarrhea patients in the country's 19 cities and provinces to over 1,800, including 326 cholera sufferers, since March 5.

    Most of acute diarrhea sufferers were from Hanoi, Hai Phong city and the two provinces of Ha Tay and Thanh Hoa in the northern region.

    The acute diarrhea outbreak is mainly due to polluted environment, loose food safety management, and poor public awareness on the disease, said Nguyen Huy Nga, head of the ministry's Preventive Medicine Department.

    Vietnam has experienced three acute diarrhea outbreaks which hit about 4,000 people, of whom some 700 have been tested positive to cholera virus since last October.