Five of the 23 people who have died of swine flu in Vietnam were healthy people, making 22% of the cases, a doctor and senior official has said.

Dr. Luong Ngoc Khue, deputy head of the Department of Medical Examination Treatment Administration, said at a meeting of the National Steering Committee on Human Influenza Prevention on October 14 that 14 of the others had chronic diseases.

The epidemic continues to spread in Vietnam, with 76 new cases reported on October 14, taking the total number to 10,124.

Of those, more than 9,400 people have been cured and discharged from hospital.

But an official of the Department of Medical Examination Treatment Administrationsaid the virulence of the H1N1 virus causing the current epidemic is not very high.

On the same day, Deputy Director of the Department of Health of the central province of Quang Tri Tran Kim Phung announced 250 cases of A/H1N1 from October 6-14. The province daily sees 20-30 people infected with swine flu, especially 50 positive cases a day at a peak. The patients are mainly students.

Elsewhere, Dr. Vo Van Thang, deputy headmaster of An Giang University, said 60 Culture and Art students suspected to have swine flu were isolated 10 days ago after one of them tested positive.
Out of them, 44 were discharged from hospital on October 14 while the rest continue to receive treatment.