Ha Giang Province in northern Vietnam has recently recorded one death of diphtheria and more than 30 suspected cases, after nearly 20 years of no known infections, local health authorities reported.

The return of diphtheria has caused worries among people as it is a fast-spreading disease that was the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the 19th and early 20th centuries, according to the health center of Ha Giang’s Meo Vac District. 

The first patient and also the first fatality in the return of diphtheria was recorded on August 24, when V.M.D., 15 years old, of the Mong ethnic group in the district’s Khau Vai commune, tested positive for the disease and died the same day, the center said. 

D. was taken to the Meo Vac District General Hospital 10 days earlier with symptoms of diphtheria, and was transferred to the Ha Giang Province General Hospital one day before his death, doctors said. 

This is the first case of diphtheria that has been recorded over the past nearly 20 years in the province, according to local health authorities.   

Immediately after D. tested positive for diphtheria with unknown cause, Meo Vac District General Hospital conducted tests and detected more than 30 cases – all adults and older children –suspected of having diphtheria. 

The hospital has set up an isolated ward for treatment of these suspected cases.

The National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and the National Children’s Hospital have sent their experts to the local hospital for support in epidemic prevention and treatment of severe cases.

Previously, Dien Bien Province, also in the northern region, recorded two diphtheria cases with unknown cause from April 20 to May 21, including one death in Pu Nhi Commune, Dien Bien Dong District.

Diphtheria is a respiratory infectious disease that can spread quickly, according to Tran Dac Phu, former director of the Ministry of Health’s General Department of Preventive Medicine.

“Previously, when the expanded vaccination program did not cover diphtheria, the rates of diphtheria infection were very high, but after the program included the disease, the prevalence decreased considerably,” Phu said.

However, diphtheria has appeared again in recent years in the Central Highlands region and most recently in some northern mountainous provinces, with the majority of the affected localities were remote ones, where the inoculation rates were low or the immunization was inconvenient, the expert stated. 

Diphtheria is transmitted through the respiratory tract, droplets, and contact with everyday objects, so it is necessary to get full vaccination against the disease as per the instructions of health authorities, Phu advised.

In addition, mask wearing, disinfection, and keeping hygiene are also among measures to prevent diphtheria transmission, he added.

As an acute respiratory infection, diphtheria has an incubation period of about two to five days, during which time patients have no symptoms, before they get a fever and suffer from a sore throat, runny nose, difficulty swallowing, and other symptoms, said Dr. Bui Thu Phuong from the Central Military Hospital 108.

The illness can cause dangerous complications such as airway obstruction, myocarditis, peripheral neuropathy, nephritis, pneumonia, and even death in serious cases.

Patients must be isolated from others and given timely and thorough treatment, Dr. Phuong said, adding that their contacts should get throat cultures and be monitored for seven days while the patients’ residence must be disinfected carefully.

Healthy carriers should take erythromycin, an antibiotic for the treatment of a number of bacterial infections, for 10 days and get follow-up examinations every day, she advised.

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