The Ministry of Health has ordered city and provincial preventive healthcare centres to take steps to stop a disease caused by brain-eating amoeba (Naegleri Fowleri).

The order was made following two fatalities of the disease, including a 25-year-old man from the southern province of Phu Yen and the other, a six-year-old boy from Ho Chi Minh City .

The ministry has asked authorities to raise public awareness on ways to prevent the disease.

Hospitals and healthcare centres have been asked to try and diagnose the disease quickly so patients have a better chance of being cured.

The brain-eating amoeba is said to live in freshwater lakes, rivers and reservoirs in tropical and sub-tropical regions.-VNA