A 20-year-old student is staying at 175 Military Hospital for the treatment.

According to doctors, he was hospitalised 10 days ago with symptoms including a fever, sore throat, shortness of breath, and swollen glands. Tests from the hospital and the HCM City Pasteur Institute indicated that he had diphtheria.

With the intensive treatment, he is now in stable health condition and expected to be discharged from hospital next week.

Sixteen people who had close contact with him are being quarantined.

HCM City is the country’s second locality in Vietnam that has witnessed the infection after the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong where it has seen a total of 12 patients, including one death and one in critical condition.

To date, hundreds of people in Dak Nong have been placed in quarantine for disease prevention.

Diphtheria is an infection caused by strains of bacteria called Corynebacterium diphtheriae that produces a toxin. Diphtheria spreads from person to person, usually through respiratory droplets, like coughing or sneezing. It can also spread by touching open sores or ulcers of someone with a diphtheria skin infection. Dtinews

More than 355 people isolated to contain diphtheria

Hundreds of people have been isolated after an outbreak of diphtheria.

Dak Nong records four cases of diphtheria

The Centre for Disease Control in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong on Monday reported that the province has recorded four cases of diphtheria.