Diphtheria kills 21 in Rohingya camps: WHO

Twenty-one people have died from diphtheria in the Rohingya camps in Bangladesh, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday, adding that it had started a second vaccination drive to rein in the outbreak, reports AFP.

According to the UN health agency, 1,571 suspected cases of the bacterial disease were registered in the Rohingya refugee camps of southeast Bangladesh between November 10 and December 17.

"Twenty-one deaths have been reported among the Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar," WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told reporters in Geneva, adding that about 20 percent of the suspected cases were children under the age of five.