What is it?
Diphtheria is an acute and highly contagious bacterial infection that mainly affects the nose and throat.
Who gets it?
Children under 5 years old and adults over 60 are particularly at risk for contracting diphtheria, as are those living in crowded or unsanitary conditions, the undernourished, and children and adults who do not have up-to-date immunizations.
Diphtheria is rare in the United States and Europe, where health officials have been immunizing children against it for decades. However, it is still common in developing countries where immunizations are not given routinely.
What causes it?
The toxin, or poison, caused by the bacteria can lead to a thick coating in the nose, throat, or airway. This coating is usually fuzzy gray or black and can cause breathing problems and difficulty in swallowing.
What are the symptoms?
In its early stages, diphtheria can be mistaken for a bad sore throat. A low-grade fever and swollen neck glands are the other early symptoms.
In more advanced stages, the patient may have difficulty breathing or swallowing, complain of double vision, have slurred speech, or even show signs of going into shock (pale, cold skin; rapid heartbeat; sweating; and an anxious appearance).
How is it diagnosed?
Children and adults with diphtheria are treated in a hospital.
After a doctor confirms the diagnosis through throat culture and blood counts, the infected person receives a special anti-toxin to neutralize the diphtheria toxin already circulating in the body, as well as antibiotics to kill the remaining diphtheria bacteria. The anti-toxin is given through injections or intravenously. The patient is closely watched while the anti-toxins are given because the solution, which is made from horse serum (blood), may cause an allergic reaction.
What is the treatment?
If the infection is advanced, patients may need mechanical assistance to breathe. In cases where the toxins may have spread to the heart, kidneys, or central nervous system, patients may need intravenous fluids, oxygen, or cardiac medications.
The patient must be isolated. Family members who have not been immunized, or who are very young or elderly, must be protected from contact with the patient.
Your child's doctor will notify the local health department and will take steps to treat everyone in the household who may have been exposed to the bacteria. This will include assessment of immune status, throat cultures, and booster doses of diphtheria vaccine. They will also receive antibiotics as a precaution.
Self Care Tips
Preventing diphtheria depends almost completely on immunizing children with the combined diphtheria/tetanus/pertussis (DTP or DTaP) vaccine and non-immunized adults with the diphtheria/tetanus vaccine (DT). Most cases of diphtheria occur in people who haven't received the vaccine at all or haven't received the entire course.
The immunization schedule calls for DTP or DTaP vaccines at 2, 4, and 6 months of age, with booster doses given at 12 to 18 months and then at 4 to 6 years. Booster shots should be given every 10 years after that to maintain protection.
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