Spanish child found with diphtheria, first national case in 29 years

Health authorities in the city of Olot, which is in the northern province of Girona, confirmed on Tuesday that a six-year-old boy was admitted into the Vall d'Hebron hospital in Barcelona with the first recorded case of diphtheria in the country since 1986.

The health authorities in the Catalan region also confirmed that the child had not been vaccinated against the disease and that he is now in intensive care and being treated with an anti-toxin.

Spain's General Secretary for Health Ruben Moreno explained in the El Pais newspaper that one of the problems posed by the case was that "nobody has the illness these days as everyone is vaccinated."

Because of this the drug to treat the boy had to be flown into Spain from Moscow by the Russian Ambassador.

Diphtheria is most likely to affect either children or adults aged over 60 and in its early stages has a mortality rate of around 10 percent, with most deaths provoked by respiratory problems caused by the toxins produced by the diphtheria bacteria.

Around 90 percent of Spaniards are vaccinated against the illness, but in recent years anti-vaccination campaigns have seen increasing numbers of parents decide against vaccinating their children, something the Spanish Ministry of Health has qualified as "irresponsible." Endit