This bacteria produces a poison that can spread around the body

Photo Credits: Book-Med, WEForum

Name
Diphtheria

Transmission

• An infection caused by the Corynebacterium diphtheriae bacteria
  
• People become infected through direct physical contact with an infected person:
  • Inhaling respiratory droplets from the infected person coughing or sneezing
  • Touching open sores/skin lesions of an infected person (rare)

Geography
Worldwide but more common in tropical climates

Incubation Period
1– 10 days after infection

Signs and Symptoms

• Fever
• Chills
• Headache
• Thick covering on back of throat
• Sore throat
• Nasal discharge
• Cough
• Difficulty swallowing
• Difficulty breathing
• Swollen glands in neck
• Pain, redness, swelling and ulcers on the skin (cutaneous diptheria)
• Paralysis
• Heart failure
• Sepsis

Diagnosis

• Laboratory testing of tissue samples and throat cultures

Treatment

• An antitoxin can stop the poison produced by the bacteria from damaging the body
• Antibiotics can kill the bacteria
  • Patients are usually kept in isolation until 48 hours after starting antibiotics so they are no longer contagious

Prognosis

• Fatal in 5 – 10% of cases, with a higher mortality rate in young children
  • Was once a major cause of illness and death among children worldwide

Prevention: What Can You Do?

• Ensure you get the vaccine to protect yourself
  • The vaccine is usually combined with vaccines for tetanus and whooping cough (pertussis)

Diphtheria In the News

• Fatality reported in unvaccinated Antwerp, Belgium child
• Health scare in Denmark as refugees bring back diphtheria after 20yr absence

Sources:
http://www.cdc.gov/diphtheria/
http://www.who.int/immunization/diseases/diphtheria/en/