Unvaccinated 6-Year-Old Boy Dies From Diphtheria

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Health officials from Spain announced that an unvaccinated six-year-old boy has died from diphtheria on Saturday.

Spokeswoman for Vall d'Hebron University Hospital Bianca Pont said that the boy was placed in intensive care but died on the early morning hours of May 30. It was the first case of the disease in the country in the last couple of decades. According to ABC News, the boy lived in the small city of Olot, north of Barcelona. He had not been vaccinated because his parents were against inoculation.

According to NY City News, the child's respiratory, cardiac and kidney functions were ravaged by the diphtheria toxin. The child was then put on artificial respiration, artificial kidney and extracorporeal circulation for a few days.

Diphtheria is a bacterial infection that affects the mucous membranes of the nose and the throat. A sure sign of diphtheria infection is a thick, gray substance at the back of the throat which may cause breathing difficulties. Other accompanying symptoms include fever, weakness, sore throat and swollen glands.

According to Mayo Clinic, diphtheria can be deadly in its advanced stages since it can cause damage to the heart, kidneys and the nervous system. Diphtheria is very contagious and it can spread through coughing, sneezing or when a person touches an objected contaminated with diphtheria-causing bacteria. Thankfully, vaccination can help prevent the infection of the bacteria.

The boy was treated in Barcelona, but the antitoxin was hard to find in Europe. Spain had to appeal to the World Health Orgnaization and US authorities before the medicine was obtained in Russia, according to Time.

According to Yahoo, nine other children and adults had the diphtheria bacteria, but were saved because they had all been vaccinated. The death of the boy sparks the debate of vaccination and anti-vaxxing in the country.

"We are appealing to parents to have their children vaccinated," said Boi Ruiz, a health chief. "The risk is not zero. But we cannot use the fact that the risk isn't zero to create fear amongst parents over the vaccine."

Even though the vaccination rates in Spain is very high, there are still those that remain unconvinced about the benefits of vaccination.

"The consequences of not vaccinating a child can be dramatic. The right to vaccination is for children, not for the parents to decide," said Rubén Moreno, general secretary for health services.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 84 percent of children worldwide are immunized against infectious diseases such as diphtheria, hepatitis B, mumps, pertussis, pneumonia, measles, polio, rubella and tetanus.