- Several cases of diphtheria have occurred in the Federal Asylum Center in the former Ziegler Hospital in Bern.
- Authorities have quarantined over 180 people.
- Throat diphtheria was last seen in Switzerland in 1983.
A disease that has long since been eradicated in Switzerland is causing a stir in the Federal Asylum Center in Bern. There, pharyngeal diphtheria was diagnosed in two people. The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) confirmed to SRF News a corresponding report from the news portal Nau.ch.
The two people have already had a positive toxin finding, and four others are still pending. Respiratory symptoms did not occur in any of the affected persons.
Because of the diphtheria cases, the SEM has imposed a quarantine on two floors of the former Ziegler hospital. Affected are 92 unaccompanied minor asylum seekers on one floor and 83 asylum seekers on another floor. All infected are in isolation.
We test all people on a large scale and of course also offer vaccinations.
The other residents are on their floors and are in contact with each other there, Wyss explained. Masks are compulsory throughout the building. “We test everyone on a large scale and of course also offer vaccinations,” says SEM spokesman Samuel Wyss to SRF. The people who tested positive are in isolation. “There is no vaccination skepticism. People are aware that diphtheria can be a serious, deadly disease.”
High Mortality
Diphtheria is an infectious disease that attacks organs such as the heart and liver. “The mortality rate for pharyngeal diphtheria is high (up to 50 percent), but can be reduced to 5 to 10 percent by immediately administering an antidote,” writes the BAG on its website.
In Switzerland, the disease has been practically eradicated thanks to a vaccination. The last time there was a case of pharyngeal diphtheria was in 1983.