Friday, February 10, 2017

Venezuelan girl's diphtheria death highlights country's health crisis

Medications/Drugs News Headlines - Yahoo! News
Venezuelan girl's diphtheria death highlights country's health crisis

Jennifer Vivas, mother of Eliannys Vivas, who died from diphtheria, carries her baby at the front porch of her home in PariaguanBy Alexandra Ulmer and Maria Ramirez PARIAGUAN, Venezuela (Reuters) - Eliannys Vivas, 9, started to get a sore throat on a Friday last month in this languid Venezuelan town where papaya trees shade poor cinder-block homes. Five days later, Eliannys was dead, likely a victim of diphtheria, a serious bacterial infection that is fatal in 5 to 10 percent of cases and particularly lethal for children. Eliannys' story is also one of misdiagnoses and missed signals worsened by government secrecy around the disease.


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