Hyderabad: There is a shortage of anti-diphtheria vaccines in the city and the state government has asked for more stocks from the Institute of Virology.
More than 552 cases of diphtheria have been reported in the state. Usually, diphtheria and tetanus shots are given to children together, but in the government sector diphtheria shots are administered separately.
A senior doctor said, “The serum helps in neutralizing the free circulating toxin in the body. Presently, the treatment modality is based on giving antibiotics like penicillin which helps patients who come early.”
In order to deal with the increasing numbers, the district medical and health officers of Hyderabad have drawn a list of 23 localities and targeted 11,000 children who will be vaccinated for diphtheria — mainly children of construction workers, labourers and also migrants.
