950803

Diphtheria kills

91 in Ukraine

MOSCOW: Ninety-one people, 26 of them children, have died of diphtheria in Ukraine this year, the Ukrainian Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

A ministry official told Interfax news agency that 2,525 people had contracted the disease this year.

Kiev and the Donetsk region were worst affected, with 251 diphtheria cases each, of which 11 were fatal in Kiev and nine in the Donetsk region.

Mass vaccinations were carried out in seven regions of the former Soviet republic in April, including Kiev and Crimea, and more were to be conducted in October, Interfax said.-AFP