A diphtheria outbreak in northeastern Guinea has killed 58 people, many of them young children, the World Health Organization has announced.
According to a statement by the World Health Organization, the highly contagious respiratory disease may lead to death in 5 to 10 percent of cases, and the percentage may be higher among children, reports Al-Rai daily.
The World Health Organization had recorded more than 500 possible cases since July, most of them in the Siguiri region. Symptoms usually begin with a sore throat and fever.
According to the organization, the percentage of people immunized against “diphtheria” among the population in Guinea, which lacks the ability to control the disease, has been less than fifty since 2014, and to ensure that communities are protected from its spread, vaccination must include 80 to 85 percent of the population. (AFP)