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A 69-year-old woman who died of a respiratory complication, when undergoing a laboratory test, the agent of diphtheria was detected. A girl died over the weekend.
Peru has declared a nationwide epidemiological alert for diphtheria, after confirming the second death in Lima, and has launched a vaccination campaign that will be conducted in parallel with preventive actions for the covid-19 pandemic.
Deputy Minister of Public Health, Luis Suárez, reported in a press conference that Cayetano Heredia hospital notified the case of a 69-year-old woman who died of respiratory complications and undergoing laboratory tests found the diphtheria agent, Corynebacterium diphteriae.
The National Institute of Health (INS) confirmed this Wednesday that the test was positive for diphtheria, but Suárez pointed out that “the patient had a chronic clinical picture of another disease”.
“This is apparently an added infection to the discovery of diphtheria,” the authority added.
Two deaths and three other cases of diphtheria
With this person’s death there are already two deaths from this respiratory disease in Lima, following the death of a five-year-old girl a week ago in the La Victoria district, which became the first case of diphtheria in the past 20 years.
Suárez said this situation forced the Ministry of Health to extend the investigation area to the district of San Martín de Porres, where the second victim lived, and to apply a blocking vaccination.
“The National Epidemiology Center is in charge of the investigation phase and yesterday declared the national epidemiological alert so that all health services are attentive to any suspected case of diphtheria that may arise”, explained the deputy minister.
So far, three more cases of diphtheria have been confirmed among the relatives of the deceased girl, which is why the vaccination campaign around her home will begin on Thursday to immunize around 80,000 people in La Victoria.
“Due to the nature of the disease, we are expanding the vaccination area in La Victoria,” Suárez said.
More than 908 thousand cases of covid-19
Parallel to this health intervention, Peru has already exceeded 908,000 cases of covid-19, with over 832,000 recovered from the disease.
The death toll is more than 34,600 dead and more than 5,200 people have been hospitalized in health centers as of Tuesday.
Peru’s president Martín Vizcarra stressed that the rate of infections and deaths has been falling in recent weeks, but that this shouldn’t be a reason to forget about prevention and social distancing measures.
“This is not to say that there are no people who continue to be infected, the virus has not gone away, but there are fewer infected, patients with moderate symptoms enter the hospital, but now the number of people leaving hospitals is greater. , compared to the amount that arrives, “said the sovereign from the Government Palace.
Likewise, Vizcarra pointed out that the economy is also being reactivated and this is reflected in the public investment made in October of 3.652 million soles (approximately $ 1 billion) to promote projects in regional and municipal governments.
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