18-year-old student dies from diphtheria in Nghe An Province

An 18-year-old student from the Vocational and Continuing Education Center in Ky Son District has passed away from

, leading to the isolation and monitoring of 119 individuals who had contact with her.

On the afternoon of July 8, a representative from the Nghe An Provincial Center for Disease Control (CDC) announced that the young woman had died on July 5 after battling the disease for nearly 10 days. This marks the first fatal case of diphtheria in Nghe An this year.

The 119 individuals who came into contact with the deceased are from Ky Son and Tuong Duong districts. Among them, seven had close contact with the patient at the Vocational and Continuing Education Center in Ky Son District. Two people have traveled from Ky Son to Bac Giang, and one of them, an 18-year-old girl who had shared a room with the deceased, has tested positive for diphtheria. She is currently being treated at the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi. The health status of the other individual who traveled to Bac Giang has not been disclosed by authorities.

The Nghe An CDC has collected samples from those who had contact with the patient and sent them to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology for testing. A

has been dispatched to the affected areas to prevent further spread of the disease.