23 killed in spreading diphtheria over Yemen

SANAA (Yemen Press Agency) –Death toll from spreading diphtheria epidemic in Yemen has increased to 32 since October, Yemen’s Health Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.

And suspected cases of the disease have reached up to 240 people, mostly children, spokesman Abdel Hakim al-Kuhlani told the Yemen press agency in an interview by phone.

Al-Kuhlani warned the disease is spreading amid acute shortage of vaccines, blaming the all-out blockade imposed by US-backed Saudi-led aggression coalition over the Yemen’s land, air and sea ports.

The cases were reported from 15 provinces, he said.

The besieged country also is suffering from the world’s most  humanitarian crisis with spreading of cholera since April.

Cholera has killed 2,200, mostly children, and infected up to 925,000 people, according to latest reports by the United Nations aid agencies. END