Health authorities in Ho Chi Minh City held a seminar Thursday to discuss the spread of scarlet fever and measles throughout about half of the city’s 24 districts.

The diseases have spread to both adults and children who mostly weren’t vaccinated.

It also called for strict quarantine for the patients, better hygiene practices and vaccination regimes.

HCMC Center for Preventive Health reported that the city had its worst incidence of scarlet fever as it was a center for migrants.

The diseases, which began to spread in the city last October, have caused coma and serious symptoms in some adults and spread to 30 cities and provinces nationwide with 80 percent of patients over 15 years old.

Reported by Minh Nam – Le Tung