The hands to the head. This is what I have done when I learned that diphtheria has returned to Spain, 28 years after the last case was detected: throwing my hands to my head. And the saying goes clearly: who plays with fire, can burn. The problem? That it is not the child who plays with fire, but his parents, and that fire, in this case, can jump to other people and burn them too.
Today it has been made public that a 6-year-old child is admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Vall d'Hebron Hospital in Barcelona with a diphtheria infection. The last case that occurred in the country is from 1987. How is it possible that diphtheria has returned to Spain after 28 years?
What is diphtheria?
Diphtheria, since the name sounds to many but we do not know what it is, is a contagious respiratory disease that is caused by the infection of the bacteria Corynebacterium diphtheriae, which produces such an alteration of the respiratory tract that it can cause asphyxiation to the sufferer.
It is spread by respiratory tract, by respiratory droplets exhaled when breathing and speaking, by people with the disease or carriers of the bacteria without symptoms. Once contagion occurs and there is infection the bacteria begins to generate toxins that spread to organs such as the heart and brain, may cause irreparable damage.
In Europe it is a disease that almost does not occur, however a few years ago there were outbreaks in Russia due to the fall in the percentage of vaccinations and as long as the disease is not considered eradicated, the vaccine should continue to be administered so that a similar outbreak does not occur.
"I, from diphtheria, would not vaccinate"
But of course, one thing is the recommendation and another what happens to practice, when you get people to distrust vaccines. You tell parents that at 2 months they will be given a hexavalent vaccine to prevent tetanus, diphtheria, polio, the Haemophilus influenzae type B, whooping cough and hepatitis B and they tell you why so much, that if they can't vaccinate only from tetanus, that everything else is to put things in the body, that "I of diphtheria would not vaccinate, that that disease I don't even know what it is. "
And they are right, they don't know what it is because thanks to vaccines it is a disease that we have had controlled for almost 3 decades. The problem? Than is not eradicated. There are still cases of diphtheria in Europe and it is already known, to which we go from being modern and we begin to reject what has made us get here, we run the risk of taking a step back: I do not vaccinate the child, that everything is a deal.
And what nobody wants to happen happens, but it ends up happening. A 6-year-old boy who was never vaccinated for diphtheria is now in the ICU without eating or drinking it. And the professionals to run to try to save his life, which has been with symptoms since May 25, which was diagnosed on the 29th (the day he had specific tests) and began to be treated with the antitoxin on Sunday 31, That was when he arrived from France.
Will it be the only case of diphtheria?
The child, as they tell us from La Vanguardia, entered Olot's hospital and when it was confirmed that he had diphtheria he moved to Vall d'Hebron. Now it is trying to locate all the people with whom the child has been in contact to carry out all possible preventive measures and prevent the bacteria from spreading. But are we not vaccinated? Yes, we are, but we adults are at risk because the antibodies, the protection, decrease with the years in such a way that it is estimated that only one third of adults have adequate protection. And that we are, that many children are not.
Come on, because as the child's contacts are not well controlled and contagion begins, we will have a problem, an outbreak. And all because the speech of the anti-vaccinations fell deeply in many families and after a few years of declining coverage we are, right now in a higher risk. It seems a lie, to more progress, to more technology and security, we are at greater risk. Why? Because of what has been said, because many families have decided not to vaccinate their children because they have believed that everything is a business, that their children will be healthier (when it is not true) and that vaccines are bad.
