BERLIN (Reuters) – A 10-year-old boy has died from a diphtheria infection in a Berlin hospital, German newspaper Tagesspiegel reported on Wednesday, saying the child had not had the well-established vaccination.
The child, from the nearby state of Brandenburg, contracted the illness in October and had been in intensive care ever since, says Tagesspiegel.
According to Tagesspiegel, citing Brandenburg’s health ministry, the boy had not been vaccinated against the illness. When reached by Reuters, the health ministry declined to comment on individual cases.
Diphtheria is a highly infectious illness that is very rare in Germany. Effective vaccines have helped keep cases low. Germany’s public health body, the Robert Koch Institute, said that in 2023 an adult died from diphtheria in Germany and two adults died in 2024.
The institute says on its website that global cases have plunged by more than 90% between 1980 and 2010, citing the wide introduction of diphtheria vaccination.
Germany’s expert panel on vaccinations known as STIKO, whose recommendations are widely followed by physicians, says that children should receive a series of protective shots against the bacterial disease, ideally in combination with vaccines against other infections.
(Reporting by Leon Kuegeler; Editing by Ludwig Burger and Alex Richardson)
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