Health ministry asks for strengthening diagnosis and treatment of diphtheria

Accordingly, the local health departments in these two localities must intensify the following measures, including conducting thorough screening of close contacts with confirmed diphtheria cases, promptly detecting suspected cases within outbreak clusters and the community and conducting timely testing to confirm diphtheria cases.

The local authorities should prepare quarantine areas, isolation rooms, drugs, medical equipment, supplies, personal protective equipment, and disinfectant chemicals for emergency and treatment purposes.

Standard and transmission-based prevention measures must be complied for medical staff during medical examination and treatment such as using masks, hand hygiene, and environmental surface cleaning.

According to the Medical Examination and Treatment Management Department under the Ministry of Health, diphtheria is a vaccine-preventable disease in the National Expanded Program on Immunization.

In recent years, the number of diphtheria cases in Viet Nam has sharply decreased, from nearly 3,500 cases in 1983 to about 10-50 cases per year (within the last 15 years in the period from 2004-2019).

Diphtheria has been controlled and only a few sporadic cases have been recorded due to lack of vaccination and it often occurs in remote areas, where vaccination rates are low.

In 2020, as many as 226 diphtheria were recorded in Viet Nam in the provinces of Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Quang Ngai and Quang Tri.

In 2023, only 57 cases were reported in three provinces of Ha Giang, Dien Bien and Thai Nguyen.

In the first 6 months of 2024, the whole country recorded 5 cases, and one death./.