Diphtheria, a Once Vanquished Killer of Children, Is Resurgent

Diphtheria, a once vanquished killer of children, is resurgent

A Somali hospital ward packed with gasping children shows how war, climate and mistrust of vaccines are fueling the disease’s return in spots around the world.

Diphtheria, a Once Vanquished Killer of Children, Is Resurgent

Qurraisha Mukhtar’s two youngest children fell sick in early September, with a fever, cough and short gasping breaths. Their throats turned white, their necks swelled. She asked a healer in the neighborhood for a remedy, but 1-year-old Salman’s struggle for air grew much worse one night and he died. The next day, Hassan, 2, began to choke, and he died, too. Ms. Mukjhtar, who lives with her family in a stick-and-tin shack on the edge of Mogadishu…