HCMC – The Central Highlands province of Gia Lai has confirmed nine fresh cases of diphtheria, bringing the total number of infected patients to 10 as of Sunday afternoon, with one child dying of the contagious disease earlier in the day.
The patients including the parents and relatives of the deceased are residents of Bong Hiot Hamlet, Hai Yang Commune, Dak Doa District.
After discovering that the child named V. was infected with the disease, the local health authority teamed up with the relevant agencies to detect an outbreak of diphtheria in Bong Hiot and took urgent measures to curb the spread of the disease.
The entire hamlet has been quarantined, Mai Xuan Hai, director of the provincial Health Department, told Tuoi Tre Online.
All the residents of Hai Yang Commune will be screened and given preventive treatment. Besides this, health workers will collect and test the samples of people who came into close contact with diphtheria patients or those who are suspected of having an infection, Hai added.
Moreover, the health authority formed teams to track people who did not get vaccinated against diphtheria, have not got enough doses of the vaccine, or do not remember their vaccination records, aiming to map out a vaccination plan. It will also propose that the Tay Nguyen Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology provide it with a diphtheria vaccine for locals during the coming period.
According to Pham Minh Trung, chairman of Dak Doa, the district has set up four quarantine checkpoints outside Bong Hiot to monitor the travelling of locals. Students in Hai Yang Commune were allowed to take one week off from school starting July 6.
