Children in Đam Rông District in the Central Highlands province of Lâm Đồng receive diphtheria vaccinations. VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — A 12-year-old boy from Sa Thầy District in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum died on Monday (September 14) of heart complications from malignant diphtheria at the HCM City Hospital for Tropical Diseases, doctors said.

Dr. Nguyễn Văn Vĩnh Châu, director of the hospital, said the boy was transferred to the hospital from the Kon Tum Province’s General Hospital on Sunday (September 13), the seventh day after he contracted diphtheria.

The patient was hospitalised with the onset of cardiac arrhythmia, heart failure, and a cardiac enzyme level many times higher than the normal level.

He was put on a pacemaker and given drugs. He died after being hospitalised for 10 hours, while doctors considered putting him on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine.

This was the third death from diphtheria with severe complications at the hospital since June this year. All three patients had not been vaccinated against diphtheria and were transferred to the hospital from local hospitals.

The hospital is treating a 6-year-old boy with diphtheria from Đắk Hà District in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum. He is in stable health condition after two months of treatment at the hospital. He will be discharged in a few weeks. —VNS