Two more kids with symptoms of diphtheria admitted to CMCH

Coimbatore/Chennai: Two more children, a girl and a boy, from Kadambur Hills near Sathyamangalam were admitted at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital in the city on Thursday with symptoms of diphtheria. With this, the total number of cases admitted at CMCH have increased to 13.
“We have sent their throat swabs for tests,” CMCH dean Dr B Ashokan said. The others are responding well to the treatment, he added. Meanwhile, two children were discharged from the hospital on Thursday.
Diphtheria has claimed two children from Sathyamangalam area since June.
When 10-year-old Kasiprasath from Malliyamman Durgam, a tribal hamlet in Kadambur Hills in Sathyamangalam area, complained of sore throat and fever, his parents did not think he would be critically-ill. He died within a week on July 12, even after aggressive therapy with anti-diphtheria serum and crystalline penicillin – the drugs of choice for diphtheria.
“His parents brought him to the hospital when his neck glands were swollen. By the time he came to the government medical college hospital in Coimbatore, he was very critical. He was rushed to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai for advanced care, but he developed complications including heart failure and died a day later,” said deputy director of public health for Erode Dr Soundammal.
Since then, at least a dozen more children aged between seven and 16 years from Sathyamangalam forest area have been admitted to the CMCH. “After his death, we have asked everyone to visit a doctor if their children have fever and sore throat. Most children admitted to GH are from these villages. They are all stable,” she said.
Kasiprasath, officials say, was not the first diphtheria death in the region. A month ago, another school boy Madhappan from the neighbouring village, Urulikottai, in Thalavady hills was brought to the CMCH with symptoms of diphtheria. He too was rushed to Chennai but died.
Attempts to track the source of the infection in Sathyamangalam did not yield results. Tribals in the area, who pick forest produces for livelihood, told officials that none of them travelled out of the forest in the last few weeks.
“They recollect a man who came from Kerala visiting the hills to see if it can be a location for serial shooting. He might have been a carrier, but it is too much of a long shot to assume,” she added. Infected people who remain unaware of their illness are known as carriers of diphtheria, because they can spread the infection without being sick themselves, she said.
The directorate of public health, meanwhile, has rushed medical teams for mass vaccination of children under the age of 17. “We have asked doctors to vaccinate all healthy children between 5 and 7 years with DPT and those between 8 and 17 with Tetanus-Diphtheria vaccine. Any one showing symptoms of diphtheria will have to be treated with antibiotics at home or admitted to a tertiary care facility,” said director of public health Dr K Kolandaisamy.
Resurgence of diphtheria, he said, is largely because of two reasons. “Nearly 20% of school students skip their booster DPT doses at the age of 5. But in many children, we see the effect of the vaccine waning away by the time they reach Class 5. A reason why we give TD vaccines instead of just tetanus shots for students in classes 5 and 10,” he said.