Hanoi - Authorities in a northern Vietnamese province have banned wedding banquets in restaurants and hotels in response to an epidemic of cholera and other food-borne disease affecting more than 1,000 people nationwide, officials said Thursday. Thanh Hoa province, 150 kilometers south of Hanoi, issued an urgent message to all districts to temporarily ban food at wedding parties, funerals and meetings, according to Nguyen Trong Quynh, chief of the provincial People's Committee.
"People can still organize parties with wine, tea, cakes and candies," Quynh said. "This is aimed at preventing the acute diarrhea outbreak in the province."
Quynh said that people are also encouraged not to organize parties with food at home.
At least 24 people have been hospitalized in Thanh Hoa province for acute diarrhea, with seven of them testing positive with cholera, according to Duong Ngoc Lam, director of the Health Department of the province.
Nationwide, the outbreak has expanded to at least 11 provinces with more than 1,000 people infected, including at least 150 people positive to cholera bacteria.
Others are infected with unknown bacteria, which have not yet been isolated but appear to be less dangerous, according to health officials.
Cholera chiefly spreads through drinking water or eating food contaminated with cholera bacteria.
Vietnam announced a acute diarrhea epidemic last week and put a ban on a popular fermented shrimp paste, which has been blamed for up to half the cases.
