OFFICIALS say a six-year-old boy who had been the first child to contract diphtheria in Spain in 29 years has died from the disease in a Barcelona hospital.

BIANCA Pont, spokeswoman for the Vall d'Hebron university hospital, said in a statement that the patient, who had been admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit on May 30, died in the early hours of Saturday.

Originally published asUnvaccinated boy dies of diphtheria