Diphtheria claims 48 lives in Yemen within 60 days: WHO

Diphtheria has claimed lives of at least 48 people within the last two months across Yemen amid the ongoing Saudi military aggression and blockade of the impoverished Arab country.

According to Press TV, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a report on Thursday that diphtheria-related deaths had been recorded in 19 of Yemen’s 23 provinces.

Another 610 suspected cases of diphtheria have been reported across the country, it added.

Almost 100 districts in Yemen have reported at least one diphtheria case with a heavy concentration in the province of Ibb, which reported approximately 50 percent of the total infections across the country.

The outbreak of diphtheria, a bacterial disease, coincides with a deadly cholera epidemic that began last April.

According to figures released earlier by the WHO, cholera has claimed more than 2,200 lives in all but one province of Yemen.

WHO representative Dr. Nevio Zagaria has warned that the spread of diphtheria was significantly more dangerous than the already widespread cholera because of its higher fatality rate.

The WHO describes diphtheria as “a vaccine-preventable disease caused by toxin-producing Corynebacterium diphtheria transmitted… through close physical and respiratory contact”.

A nearly three-year-old war by Saudi Arabia on Yemen has virtually ruined the country’s health system, as critical shortages of medical supplies caused by Riyadh’s total blockade have  aggravated the humanitarian situation for desperate Yemenis.

Hundreds of health facilities have been destroyed, either completely or partially, as a result of direct Saudi airstrikes.

SS