HANOI - The skin disease in Vietnam's central province of Quang Ngai has left two more dead, said Dang Thi Phuong, director of the affected Ba To district's Healthcare Center on Friday.

So far, the disease has left 21 dead in the province, some 730 km south of capital Hanoi, among 201 infected victims.

Late April, the provincial health department reported 14 out of 26 blood samples from patients were positive for the Rickettsia Virus which is transferred from animals to people by lice or fleas.

Recently, the Vietnam's Ministry of Health has sent a delegation of 70 experts to Ba To district to train local healthcare staff on the syndromes of the disease.

After the training, the delegation is scheduled to conduct studies on the disease in the district for five days and carry out research on clinical syndromes, micro-organisms, the living environment and epidemiology to identify the real cause of the disease.