Diphtheria death toll touches 16

With the death of one more child on Monday which was also India's national education day, the death toll due to Diphtheria in Gujarat's Banaskantha district has now touched 16. With the lack of vaccination outreach having already claimed 16 children, there is fear that that the opening of schools after Diwali may further contribute to the dissemination of the contagion coupled with the reduction in immunity of the children who have not been protected by vaccination.

Dr Manish Fancy, Chief District Health Officer (CDHO) of Banaskantha informed that Monday saw six new cases of respiratory Diphtheria being reported, taking the total number of cases since September 15 to 254 children affected by the bacterial infection. A death of an already critical child at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital on Monday took the death toll to 16. However, no further cases of cutaneous diphtheria were reported on Monday.