A health disaster How does "diphtheria" threaten the lives of refugees in Britain?

Recent reports by European health organizations have revealed widespread, deadly diphtheria among asylum seekers held in reception centers in the United Kingdom. This is at a time when voices are calling for the deterioration of health care for these people.

In late 2022, shelters for asylum seekers in Britain witnessed a widespread spread of the deadly disease diphtheria among the detainees inside those centers. While specialists attribute this outbreak to poor health care there, especially children and women, and the lack of personal hygiene for these vulnerable groups.

More than once, refugee care organizations have sounded the alarm about this health situation, accusing the British government of neglect and failure to provide the necessary care. While the British Refugee Council described the cases in these centers as "horrific".

Diphtheria threatens the lives of refugees

A recently updated report by the British Ministry of Health reveals that diphtheria cases have increased during the last months of 2022. After recording the first confirmed case in February of the same year, cases rose to 50 by November.

Most of the confirmed diphtheria cases in Britain were in the southeastern region of the Kingdom, coinciding with the arrival of asylum-seekers' boats to its coasts from the north of France.

Another report , this time by the European Conference on Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, said that the number of cases of infection in the Kingdom amounted to 70. Stressing that "the spread of this infection clearly occurs among migrants," and that it occurred "during the travel journey and inside the detention facilities for these migrants."

"The UK saw a sharp increase in diphtheria cases caused by toxic Corynebacterium diphtheriae (diphtheriae) in the past year, and this was linked to an increase in the number of migrants arriving by small boat in the summer of 2022," the report said.

Most of the patients, 97 percent, are Afghan males under the age of 18 with an “unknown vaccination history,” the report said. About 51% of patients suffer from skin problems caused by the disease, which can include blisters on the legs, feet, and hands, and large sores.

In turn, the report called on the British authorities to raise awareness of diphtheria symptoms among border officials and doctors who care for migrants and asylum seekers, and to implement "comprehensive vaccination protocols" and "periodic screening of those at risk of infection."

Healthy neglect of asylum seekers

Diphtheria is a deadly microbial infection caused by a bacterium called Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Symptoms often appear gradually and begin with a sore throat and fever. In difficult cases, this bacteria produces a toxin that causes a thick gray or white smear in the back of the throat, which leads to Patient suffocation.

According to the official website of the World Health Organization, diphtheria infection spreads through direct contact or inhalation of droplets from an infected person resulting from coughing or sneezing. The infection can also spread by contact with clothes or objects contaminated with the bacteria. This makes refugee detention centers in Britain the right environment for the spread of this type of infection.

For a long time, refugee protection organizations have denounced the disastrous health conditions in detention centers in southern Britain, accusing the country's Home Office of negligence in this case.

An editorial for “The Independent” newspaper, on December 10, 2022, accused British Home Secretary Soila Braverman and the Rishi Sunak government of betting on “the possibility of her escaping from such appalling treatment of vulnerable people (refugees), because she knows that public opinion is not sympathetic to the arrivals.” Newcomers, especially those who come in small boats across the canal.

The British Refugee Council described the detention centers in the south of the country as "appalling," noting that "the prolonged and painful stay in these centers is increasingly detrimental to the health of these refugees. " The British Medical Association has also warned that there is a "growing body of evidence" of the impact of inadequate housing conditions on refugees.

According to British Interior Ministry figures, about 37,000 people live in these centers, and 10,300 of them have stayed there for three years, pending the processing of their asylum applications. Medical visits for these refugees are systematically delayed, and the poor allowance granted to them does not cover the costs of any treatment, not to mention the lack of health facilities and means of personal hygiene among these refugees.