CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan doctors yesterday warned of a diphtheria outbreak in the crisis-stricken country, calling on the government to boost availability of scarce vaccines and antibiotics to stem the disease which local media and the opposition report has killed some two dozen people.
Diphtheria is an infectious disease that chiefly affects the throat and upper airways and is spread through physical or respiratory contact. It is fatal in around 5 to 10 per cent of cases, according to the World Health Organization.
Last seen in Venezuela in 1992, diphtheria has been spreading in the southern jungle state of Bolivar, according to a statement by two local public health associations yesterday.
“We’re very worried because there could be an epidemic in the rest of the country,” infectious disease specialist Doctor Ana Carvajal, one of the authors of the report, told Reuters.
The statement said 17 people had died from diphtheria in Venezuela, citing local media. Opposition lawmaker and oncologist Jose Manuel Olivares earlier this week put the number at 22.
Reuters could not independently confirm the reports.
The leftist government of Nicolas Maduro, which has stopped publishing weekly health statistics, has not spoken about the alleged outbreak. The Health Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
