By NewsDesk @bactiman63
Through October 23 this year, four countries have reported confirmed cases of diphtheria: Brazil with one case, Haiti with 18 cases including 3 deaths, the Dominican Republic with 18 cases including 12 deaths and Colombia with one fatal case.
During the week of October 10, a confirmed fatal case of diphtheria was reported in Sucre Department in a 10-year-old Venezuelan female who had resided in Santiago de Tolú Municipality, Sucre Department, for the past 5 years.
The case had onset of symptoms on 27 September 2021 and died on 5 October; the case had no history of travel and had an unknown vaccination history. The case was laboratory-confirmed (positive for Corynebacterium diphtheriae by RT-PCR and with the identification of the diphtheria toxin gene).
Vaccination coverage for the third dose of diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP3) vaccine in the Region of the Americas declined from 94% to 84% between 2010 and 2020. Between January 2019 and January 2020, DPT3 coverage decreased by 33%.
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