Outbreaks of infectious diseases including measles, chickenpox, dengue fever, mumps and hand-foot-mouth were on the rise in Vietnam's southern economic hub Ho Chi Minh (HCM) City, according to local healthcare preventive department.

Nguyen Tri Dung, head of the City's preventive health department was quoted by Vietnam News daily as reporting Thursday that related agencies have stepped up awareness and vaccination campaigns in response to the increasing incidence of such diseases.

In the first two months of this year, 131 chickenpox cases were reported, an increase of 157 percent over the same period last year.

The health official attributed the reason to the vaccine shortage lasting almost one year which made it difficult to fight chickenpox in the city.

Meanwhile, the city also saw an increase in measles outbreaks. More than 130 patients have been found with measles in last two months, a 20-fold increase compared with the same period last year.

In addition, a 36.7 percent year-on-year increase in the incidence of dengue fever, a 21.5 percent increase in hand-foot- mouth, and a 39 percent increase in mumps was also reported.

The city's preventive health department issued instructions to healthcare agencies to administer measles vaccinations to all infants and toddlers (nine months to three years old) who have not yet had two shots of the vaccine, and if there is no reduction in the incidence of measles, vaccinations could take place in schools as well.

In the first two months, Vietnam reported 5,100 cases of hand- foot-mouth disease (1 died); 3,700 cases of dengue fever; 42 cases of virus encephalitis; 15 cases of typhoid; 3 cases of meningococcal meningitis (1 died) and 2 deaths of avian flu H5N1, according to the country's general statistics office.