A healthcare worker of the Gia Lai General Hospital checks the health of diphtheria patients. Six fresh cases of diphtheria have been confirmed in the Central Highlands – PHOTO: VNA

Daklak Province reported one new case who is a 19-year-old H’Mong resident of Krong Bong District’s Cu Pui Commune, currently at 38 weeks pregnant. She visited M’Drak District’s Medical Center on July 14 for a health check after developing symptoms such as fever, headache, sore throat and fatigue.

Her samples were collected by the Central Highlands Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology for testing, and the result came out positive, said a Daklak Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) representative.

In Gia Lai Province, all three new cases of diphtheria detected at Dak Doa District did not show any symptoms of the contagious disease, according to Ho Ngoc Gia, director of CDC Gia Lai.

The local health authority has set up quarantine checkpoints, sterilized affected areas, screened over 5,200 people, and provided over 51,000 doses of preventive medicine for impacted regions. Also, some 1,400 residents of Bong Hiot Hamlet were vaccinated to prevent diphtheria. Total infected cases in Gia Lai have reached 21.

The remaining two new cases were discovered in Dak Nong Province, taking its total number of diphtheria patients to 30, with two deaths.

Eban Thanh Son, deputy director of CDC Dak Nong, said that the province is set to provide 82,000 doses of diphtheria vaccine to the locals of disease-hit localities, monitor over 1,100 people, and take 1,071 samples for testing.

Overall, the Central Highlands has confirmed 84 diphtheria cases for over a month in the four provinces of Dak Nong, Kon Tum, Gia Lai, and Daklak, with three fatalities. SGT