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PETALING JAYA – A two-year-old child in Johor Baru is reported to have died of a serious infection with diphtheria, the last case of infection for which he has not been vaccinated since his birth.
Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah, Director General of Health, said that the child was weak and that he had been admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit of a hospital.
"The child received respiratory support and diphtheria antitoxin treatment.
"Unfortunately, the child could not be saved and died Thursday because of severe diphtheria and a failure of several organs," he said in a statement. communiqué released yesterday.
The child had initially developed fever and a cough with swollen tonsils on February 16, before being urgently escorted to the emergency unit of the USSR. hospital two days later, said Dr. Noor Hisham.
He added that other tests were being conducted to confirm whether the child had died of the preventable disease.
Dr. Noor Hisham said that so far, only one confirmed case of diphtheria has been recorded this year.
Eighteen cases were recorded in 2018, resulting in five deaths.
Four of the five fatal cases involved victims who had not been vaccinated and all were children under 10 years of age.
The ministry, he said, was taking steps to prevent the spread of infection by tracking active cases and raising awareness about vaccination and health.
Dr. Noor Hisham reminded parents to vaccinate their children, otherwise they risk not only putting them in danger, but also other children.
"The ministry is urging the public to remain vigilant about infectious diseases that can be prevented through immunization, such as diphtheria, measles, whooping cough," he said.
Diphtheria is caused by the infection of the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheria whose symptoms range from fever and sore throat to the thickness of the cover at the back of the throat and swollen tonsils.
The disease can cause organ failure as well as infections of the blood and heart, resulting in death.
Last month, Dr. Noor Hisham warned that inaccurate information about vaccines had caused an outbreak of vaccine-preventable diseases, with an increase of nearly 1,000 percent in the number of measles cases compared to five years ago. years.
In Johor Baru, samples of members of the child's family were taken, said state health director Dr. Selahuddeen Abdul Aziz.
It is to ensure that the disease does not spread to other individuals.
Initial tests showed that none of the family members of the deceased, doctors and nurses who cared for the child was infected with the disease, did he / she say? declared.
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