Venezuela: Diphtheria kills 22 children in Bolivar state

[Shiloh]

Source: http://outbreaknewstoday.com/venezue...r-state-53285/
Venezuela: Diphtheria kills 22 children in Bolivar state

Posted by Robert Herriman on October 5, 2016 //

In a follow-up to a report last week about the resurgence of the vaccine-preventable disease, diphtheria, in Venezuela?s Bolivar state, local media report some astounding information on how bad the situation has become.
In a Correo del Caron? report Monday (computer translated), officials now say that 22 children in three cities have died from diphtheria since it?s reappearance. To date, it is broken down as follows: 14 in Sifontes municipality, six in Caroni and two in Heres...

[Shiloh]

Source: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/hea...nt-blames-cia/

Long-eradicated diphtheria reappears in Venezuela; government blames the CIA
By Mar?a Emilia JorgePublished October 21, 2016Fox News Latino

Caracas, Venezuela ? Diphtheria, an extremely contagious disease that has been mostly eradicated worldwide through vaccination, has reappeared in Venezuela.

So far it has killed four children.

More than 20 cases have been reported in just one month, including those four fatalities in the southern state of Bolivar...

...This week the sense of urgency went up a few notches when a possible case of diphtheria was reported in Caracas? Military Hospital, considered the country?s best...

...Fearing government retaliation, doctors from Bolivar?s Hospital of Guaiparo Raul Leoni opted to do not reveal their identities when on Sept. 21 they reported they had four diphtheria cases, which soon turned into 23.

In the following days, two other states, Sucre and Nueva Esparta, reported a total of four cases to the Venezuelan Society of Infectious Diseases. All four patients have ties with people who had recently visited Bolivar...

...A few days earlier, Marisol Escalona, Coordinator of the government's Expanded Program on Immunization, came out with an odd warning to the medical community: "You cannot report anything (about diphtheria) because it goes against the [Bolivarian] revolution."

According to opposition lawmaker Jos? Manuel Olivares, members of the Intelligence Agency Sebin are ?chasing? doctors in Bolivar to try to keep them from speak out about the outbreak.

Olivares said he has information of at least 20 diphtheria-related deaths since April.

The shortage of antitoxins and antibiotics across the country has the potential to turn this outbreak into a national or perhaps regional crisis...