A rare disease in Berlin alerts authorities. A school child was infected. Experts explain why the disease was once so feared.
In Berlin, a ten-year-old student fell ill with diphtheria. The Brandenburg Ministry of Health confirmed that the boy was treated in a Potsdam clinic at the end of September. The suspicious activity report was received on October 1st, and was confirmed by toxin detection on October 4th. The “Märkische Allgemeine” first reported this.
The sick student attends a Waldorf school in Berlin-Spandau. The responsible health authority in Spandau confirmed a case of diphtheria in the district to the “Tagesspiegel”, but did not provide any further information about the patient or the measures taken for data protection reasons.
According to the Brandenburg Ministry of Health, the Berlin Health Department immediately took the necessary steps. This included contact management, ordering home isolation, health monitoring and vaccination record checks.
Diphtheria is a bacterial infection of the upper respiratory tract that is transmitted by droplets and can be life-threatening. In Germany, the disease has become rare due to the high vaccination rate. Because of the high vaccination rate, the disease hardly appears in this country anymore: in 2023, the Robert Koch Institute recorded 136 cases nationwide – an increase compared to previous years, which is probably due to immigration from countries with low vaccination rates.
The affected boy is reportedly suffering from pharyngeal diphtheria, the most common form of the disease. A spokesman for the Havelland district told the “Bild” newspaper that a second person had become infected with diphtheria in connection with the student’s infection. She was vaccinated against the disease. The paper learned that the boy’s parents “didn’t take the instructions about immunization very seriously.” It was initially unclear whether he had actually not been vaccinated against the disease.
A dreaded complication is narrowing of the airways to the point of suffocation. At the beginning of the 20th century, the disease was therefore referred to as the “strangling angel of children”.
The child was treated with antitoxins and antibiotics at the West Brandenburg Clinic in Potsdam. A hospital spokesman emphasized the danger of the disease to the “Tagesspiegel”: “Without timely treatment, diphtheria is associated with a mortality rate of up to 50 percent. Even with early therapy, the mortality rate is around 10 percent.”
