Vaccination is the most important and effective preventive measure against the disease, so the call is to increase vaccination coverage against diphtheria, measles and poliomyelitis above 95%, as recommended by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
After confirmation of three cases of diphtheria in the Sifontes municipality of Bolívar state, the Venezuelan Society of Infectious Diseases (SVI) warned that it is worrying that vaccination coverage in Venezuela, with 56% for DTP3 (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis) in 2021, it is the lowest on the continent after Haiti, which has 51%.
Through a release, explained that between 2016 and 2020, 3,114 suspected cases and 294 deaths were quantified. In 2017 and 2018 the 88% of the cases in the American continent were from Venezuela, and 10% from Haiti
“Uncontrolled mining in the south of the country has caused serious and irreversible environmental, social, cultural, and criminal damage, but it has also been linked to the local and distant spread of diphtheria, malaria, and measles, among other diseases; enhanced with national health problems in relation to the complex humanitarian emergency.”
He explained that diphtheria is an acute disease of bacterial origin that is preventable by vaccines and is potentially fatal in a 5% to 10% of cases, “especially in children under 5 years of age and over 50 years of age. It is spread from person to person, mainly by respiratory droplets or direct contact.
Also read: What you should know about diphtheria after confirmed cases in Bolívar state
He recommended that among the actions to be taken in the event of a suspected or confirmed case of diphtheria, the active search for more infections and their contacts should be insisted on, who should be given chemoprophylaxis. “Positive cases require strict isolation, and the main and timely treatment is with diphtheria antitoxin, adjusting the dose according to the degree of severity, and secondarily antibiotics.”
He also stressed that it is extremely important that the authorities guarantee the diagnostic and therapeutic resources for personal protection in the different health centers and regions, and activate the epidemiological blocking measures, plus the additional management protocols in triage and isolation areas in the sentinel centers.
Vaccination is the most important and effective preventive measure, for which reason he made an urgent call to increase vaccination coverage against diphtheria, measles and poliomyelitis as quickly as possible above 95%, as recommended by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). ). He added that all this is a consequence of the low vaccination coverage of 84% for the third dose of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP3).
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