SUNGAI PETANI: Muhammad Rushaidi Rizqi, 11 months, who was in a critical condition last month after being diagnosed with diphtheria, died about 2am yesterday.
The baby’s mother, Zalifah Hussin, 40, said Rushaidi, who was the youngest of 14 siblings, died at their home at Flat Paya Nahu here. He had been discharged from hospital after his condition improved.
“I usually wake up around 2am to feed him milk. However, he did not respond and was not breathing when I tried to wake him up this morning.
“Rushaidi’s death was unexpected as he seemed to be in good health and was cheerful,” said Zalifah. Zalifah said Rushaidi was rushed to Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital here by her eldest son Muhammad Yusri, 21, together with another child, Muhammad Taufik Iskandar, 3, who was also unwell.
“We feared that Taufik, who was also unwell, may get diphtheria, so we rushed them to the hospital,” she said. She said the last time Rushaidi went for a follow-up at the same hospital was on Thursday.
Zalifah previously lost her 2-year-old son, Muhammad Harris Haikal Amdin, on June 22 due to diphtheria. It was found that Rushaidi and Harris had not completed their scheduled vaccinations.
They first received treatment at the hospital on June 21 before being transferred to the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital’s intensive care unit following their critical condition.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said a post-mortem would be conducted on Rushaidi to confirm the cause of death.
Following the death of Harris, five of the 14 siblings — aged 3, 4, 8, 10 and 11 — were also warded at Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital last month due to diphtheria.
Diphtheria, a vaccine-preventable disease, is a bacterial infection that affects the mucous membranes of the throat and nose, and symptoms usually emerge between two and seven days after infection.
The disease can also cause life-threatening complications, such as myocarditis, paralysis, or kidney failure.
Symptoms include high fever, chills, fatigue, sore throat, hoarseness, breathing difficulties, cough, headache, as well as difficulty or painful swallowing.
A vaccine against diphtheria is administered when an infant is at 2, 3 and 4 months old.
A booster dose is administered when the infant is 18 months old. Kedah recorded the highest number of vaccine rejection cases in the country with 318 cases last year, more than the 239 cases in 2014.
Last Friday, Dr Noor Hisham said nine new diphtheria cases were reported in Negri Sembilan, Penang and Kedah, bringing the total number of cases to 24, including five deaths as of this week.
He said six cases were in Negri Sembilan, two were in Penang and one in Kedah, involving those from 8 to 50 years old.-nst
