 |  | Fact sheet No 089: Diphtheria - Revised December 2000 (WHO, 2000, 2 p.) | |
|  | (introduction...) | |
 | | What is Diphtheria? | |
| | How Can an Epidemic be Controlled? | |
| | Incidence Rates in the Current Epidemic in the Newly Independent States of the Former Soviet Union | |
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Diphtheria is an infectious disease spreading from person to person by respiratory droplets from the throat through coughing and sneezing.
The disease normally breaks out 2 to 5 days after infection.
Diphtheria usually affects the tonsils, pharynx, larynx and occasionally the skin.
Symptoms range from a moderately sore throat to toxic life-threatening diphtheria of the larynx or of the lower and upper respiratory tracts. Diphtheria is often complicated by diphtheric myocarditis (toxic damage to heart muscles) and neuritis (toxic damage to peripheral nerves).
The disease can be fatal - between 5% and 10% of diphtheria patients die, even if properly treated. Untreated, the disease claims even more lives.
Untreated patients are infectious for 2 to 3 weeks.
Treatment consists of immediate administration of diphtheria antitoxin and antibiotics.
Antibiotic treatment usually renders patients non-infectious within 24 hours.
Unless immunized, children and adults may repeatedly be infected with the disease.
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