MADURAI: Four patients tested positive for diphtheria in Madurai district between June and September, said highly-placed sources in the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. Besides, 16 people, including 11 children, were suspected to have contracted diphtheria. Sources said initial reports of patients showing symptoms of diphtheria -- caused by the bacteria Corynebacterium diphtheria -- emerged in June this year.
Speaking to Express on condition of anonymity, an official from the department said that 16 suspected patients were identified between June and the first week of September. Of them, 11 were children -- most of whom were aged below 15 -- and five adults (with the oldest being 33 years). Of the 16 suspected cases, 10 were from the rural areas.
“A four-year-old boy from Vadipatti block tested positive in June; a five-year-old boy from the city and an 18-year-old boy from Samayanallur block tested positive in the last week of August; an 11-year-old girl tested positive for the infection this week,” the source said, adding that three of the four cases were quarantined at the Government Rajaji Hospital.
The patients from Theni, Sivaganga, Virudhunagar and Ramanathapuram districts -- tested positive at Government Rajaji Hospital -- would be accounted for in their own respective native districts, the source said, indicating that the Southern districts accounted for a majority of cases.
Precaution
Meanwhile, precautionary measures have been stepped up to actively search for people with mild symptoms and administer oral dose of erythromycin, said sources.