Health personnel have accelerated their efforts to administer TD (tetanus-diphtheria) vaccine to the people of Peravur here in the wake of the death of a 14-year-old girl on Tuesday at the Kozhikode Government Medical College Hospital (KMCH) where she had been admitted after contracting diphtheria.
The deceased has been identified as Sreeparvathy, daughter of Udayakumar of Peravur. She was a student of Shanthinikethan School at Peravur.
She had been initially admitted to a private hospital at Peravur and then shifted to the Pariyaram Medical College Hospital after she was suspected to have contracted diphtheria. She had been shifted subsequently to the KMCH a few days ago when her condition worsened. The girl died at the KMCH in the early hours of Tuesday, Health department officials here said.
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The officials said the family of the girl had no documents to show that she had been given booster doses of vaccinations after three-and-a-half months. It is therefore assumed that the she had missed the booster dose of TD vaccine, they said. The girl also had a heart condition called mitral valve prolapse (MTV), they said.
Endocarditis with septicemia was diagnosed as the cause of the girl’s death, they said.
“Health personnel have been conducting awareness classes in the area after the diphtheria case was reported from there,” said P.M. Jyothi, Reproductive Child Health Officer here. She said that the area was under surveillance of the department, Dr. Jyothi added.
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The Health department has stepped up efforts to give TD vaccination to students of the school where the patient studied and her close contacts.
Over 440 people of the area had so far been administered TD vaccine over the past three days. More people were coming forward to get themselves vaccinated, they said.
The girl’s close contacts have also been given a course of antibiotics to prevent any outbreak of infection.