Family members, especially the children of Ms. Dinh Thi Hue (in Hai Phong City) have good health thanks to her proactive approach to keeping her children healthy and fully vaccinated as recommended by the doctor. "When you get vaccinated, you not only protect yourself from the risk of many dangerous diseases but also protect your family and the community by preventing the virus from spreading to others, creating community immunity" - Dr. Tran Thi Linh Chi - Head of the Department of Pediatrics and Neonatology, Vinmec Hai Phong International General Hospital said.

Diphtheria is an infectious, toxic disease caused by diphtheria bacteria. The disease is easily spread from sick people to healthy people through the respiratory tract. The symptoms of the disease are easily confused with the common cold.

Hib (Haemophilus Influenzae type b) bacteria are the cause of severe pneumonia, meningitis and other invasive diseases in children under 5 years of age. Hib bacteria can invade parts of the body that are normally free of germs, such as the spinal fluid, causing meningitis, or the blood, causing sepsis. Invasive disease is often severe, requires hospital treatment and can sometimes lead to death. Therefore, the World Health Organization recommends that vaccines are the only tool capable of preventing most severe diseases caused by Hib bacteria.

Diphtheria is transmitted through the respiratory tract (from the end of the incubation period), by contact with respiratory secretions or small secretions sprayed into the air, through utensils, clothes, toys, and food contaminated with secretions. This is an extremely dangerous disease, easily spread into an epidemic, if not treated promptly can cause death.

The initial symptoms of diphtheria can be confused with other diseases, which wastes the “golden time” for treatment and increases the danger level for the patient. Therefore, knowing the signs of diphtheria is extremely important.

Currently, diphtheria treatment drugs are mainly made from horse serum, diphtheria antitoxin made from human serum is very rare. Early detection and treatment of diphtheria is key, this is a disease that requires hospitalization for treatment and isolation as soon as possible.