Consider the progress that has been made with the lifesaving pentavalent vaccine, which protects a child against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, and haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) – all in one dose.

On average, 90% of children in South Asia now receive vaccines for preventable illnesses such as tetanus, influenza, diphtheria, and pertussis, and the number of infants protected against Hepatitis B has increased by nearly 60% in the last decade.

Diphtheria, caused by the aerobic gram-positive bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheria, is an acute, toxin-mediated disease that can manifest as an upper respiratory tract infection or a skin infection.

Another vaccine, called Td, protects against tetanus and diphtheria, but not pertussis.

According to UNICEF, nearly 20 million children under the age of one did not receive the three recommended doses of DPT (the vaccination for diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus) in 2017, and nearly 21 million did not receive a single dose of measles vaccine.

Diphtheria in sentence

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