Several cases had no symptoms of diphtheria so medical workers found it hard to detect.
Since the first cases of diphtheria were discovered, the health authority in was active to screen all locals and residents in other neighboring communes and detected 18 additional cases to provide time treatment, a leader of the Department of Health said.
According to the Department of Health, four outbreaks of diphtheria in districts Krong No, Dak R’Lap and Dak G’Long have been reported. Nineteen patients are being treated in the General Hospital in the Central Highlands region, the General Hospital of Dak Nong Province and an infirmary in Krong No while recovered people were discharged
The local health authority has isolated and vaccinated 3,518 residents meanwhile 2,569 people in affected areas and neighboring areas are given drugs.
Additionally, the local health authority sprayed disinfectants in 715 households, three schools, the social sponsoring house, medical facility and Bon Bu Ndoh where diphtheria has broken out first to prevent the disease from spreading.
Explaining about outbreaks of diphtheria in the Central Highlands region, Head of the Institute for Hygiene and Epidemiology Vien Chinh Chien said that the low vaccination rate is the culprit. More than 92 percent of diphtheria patients are ethnic minorities.
He added that vaccine in the National Expanded Immunization Program is usually injected on children under seven; accordingly, health experts advised parents of children aged from 12 to 18 to take them to hospital for vaccination again.
