CHENNAI: A five-year-old girl from Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh, who was diagnosed with Diphtheria, died at the Institute of Child Health (ICH), Egmore on Thursday, said Dr K Kolandasamy, the Director of Public Health.
"She came in with severe symptoms of diphtheria and was put on ventilator immediately. However she failed to respond to the treatment and succumbed to the disease," said a senior doctor from ICH adding that three more children are undergoing treatment for the same at ICH.
He said that after investigations, family and people who were in close contact with her were vaccinated. Common symptoms of diphtheria include severe shortness of breath, sore throat, fever, swollen lymph nodes and weakness.
Another 21-year-old woman with severe throat infection died at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital on Thursday, however, Kolandasamy said that she tested negative for Diphtheria. He explained that the woman had chronic liver diseases leading to her death.
With diphtheria cases being reported across the State, the Directorate of Public Health has warned private schools, which don't cooperate in the immunisation drive, that their Sanitation licence may be cancelled.
"Vaccine is important because the diphtheria vaccine will give immunity only for five years. After five years, it will wane. If the children aged 5 years are vaccinated, they will have immunity only for five years and should be given the vaccine again in their 10th year. The parents think, since the children are given the vaccine at 10, 14 and 16 months of age, it is not necessary to give boosters again," an official source said.