Diphtheria: Tragic diphtheria outbreak claims the lives of six children in Deeg district | Jaipur News

Jaipur: Six children succumbed diphtheria in remote villages of Deeg district in the last 30 days, Rajasthan Health Department has said. Of the six deaths, two occurred in October and the remainder were reported in September.
On Saturday, the health department confirmed that the boy who died on October 9 while undergoing treatment at SMS Hospital was suffering from diphtheria. The child, a resident of Sikri in Deeg, was admitted to SMS Hospital after his condition deteriorated and died during treatment. All children who died from diphtheria, a disease that can be prevented by Vaccinationwere under 10 years old. Three of the deceased were not vaccinated, two were vaccinated against diphtheria. The vaccination status of the sixth case has yet to be determined.
The health department has identified 10 more cases suspected of diphtheria and the samples collected from these individuals have been sent for laboratory analysis. Nine of 16 children did not receive any vaccination.
“My son got a fever on October 5th. I took him to Sikri Government Hospital from where he was referred to Alwar and then the doctors in Alwar referred us to SMS Hospital. I reached SMS Hospital on October 7th. My son was having difficulty.” “Doctors at SMS Hospital performed an operation the same day but his condition did not improve and he was shifted to the intensive care unit where he died on October 9,” said the 30-year-old Truck driver Sharif Khan Sikri in Deeg said.
The first death was reported on September 14, when a 7-year-old boy from Kaman in Deeg district died of diphtheria. On September 28, three deaths were reported, including a 5-year-old boy from Kaman, a 6-year-old boy from Deeg and a 6-year-old girl from Deeg. A 5-year-old boy from the Deeg district also died.
“The affected areas in Deeg district are Kaman, Pahadi and Nagar,” a senior health ministry official said. Department and WHO teams are on site in the affected areas to address the situation. In the last 20 days, the department has vaccinated 2,500 children who were either partially vaccinated or had not received any vaccination at all.
The department said its teams are making efforts to vaccinate children against diphtheria. “We have vaccinated over 2,500 children in the last 15 to 20 days,” said Dr. Raghuraj Singh, Project Manager (Immunization) at the Ministry of Health.
“We go door-to-door and check the health status of children to detect suspected cases of diphtheria early and provide timely treatment,” said Dr. Dharamveer Singh, Reproductive and Child Health Officer (Deeg) in the Health Department.
A survey of more than 1,500 houses was conducted in Kaman and Nagar areas. Health department teams are providing antibiotics to people who have had contact with diphtheria patients.