Vietnam battles cholera outbreak, over 130 infected

The epidemic of the dangerous bacterial disease -- the country's third major outbreak since October -- has spread in recent weeks from its epicentre in Hanoi to southern Ho Chi Minh City and 16 provinces, officials said.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, at a weekend crisis meeting, ordered state agencies in the communist country to quickly come to grips with the epidemic, which has also seen over 1,300 people hospitalised with acute diarrhoea.