Vietnam's Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Xuyen said that 55 Vietnamese people nationwide die of tuberculosis in one day, the local newspaper People's Army reported Wednesday.

Xuyen's figure was made at a recently-concluded meeting held here in response to the World Tuberculosis Prevention Day.

According to Luu Thi Lien, director of Hanoi Hospital of Tuberculosis and Lung diseases, among the country's 86 million people, about 400 Vietnamese people are being contracted with the disease daily.

In particular, the number of Vietnamese youth, aged from 15 to 24, being caught tuberculosis is on the rise, said Lien.

Tuberculosis is still one of critical health burdens for the country, said Xuyen.

According to the World Health Organization, Vietnam ranks 12 among 22 countries having the highest number of tuberculosis patients in the world.

(Xinhua News Agency March 25, 2009)