A CASE of diphtheria has been diagnosed at Dénia hospital – only the fifth in three years in Spain, where the highly-contagious condition was thought to have been extinct since 1986.
The patient, 53, had not travelled to any high-risk country in many years, and had been vaccinated in early childhood and again before his military service.
But the Spaniard did not have the recommended boosters at age 40, which are also strongly advised again at age 65.
