Diphtheria is manageable, preventable – WHO
By SADIQ ABUBAKAR, Maiduguri –
The World Health Organization (WHO) says diphtheria is a vaccine-preventable disease, urging Nigerians to ensure that their children are fully vaccinated against the disease with the prescribed three doses of the pentavalent vaccine.
The WHO Emergency Manager in charge of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, Beatrice Muraguri, states this on Wednesday during a media dialogue on diphtheria, held in Maidugiri.
According to her, Diphtheria is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheria with Signs and symptoms usually starting 2 – 5 days after exposure and range from mild to severe.
She noted that the symptoms often come gradually, beginning with a sore throat and fever but in severe cases, the bacteria produces a poison (toxin) that causes a thick grey or white patch at the back of throat which can block the airway making it hard to breathe or swallow and also create a barking cough where the neck may swell in part due to enlarged lymph nodes.
“The poison may also get into the blood stream to cause complications that may include inflammation and damage of the heart muscle, inflammation of nerves, kidney problems, and bleeding problems due to low blood platelets where the damaged heart muscles may result in an abnormal heart rate and inflammation of the nerves may result in paralysis.
“Diphtheria spreads easily between people by direct contact or through the air though respiratory droplets, like from coughing or sneezing and it may also be spread by contaminated clothing and objects while the Clinical diagnosis of the diphtheria usually relies on the presence of a greyish membrane covering the throat.
“Although laboratory investigation of suspected cases is recommended for case confirmation, treatment should be started immediately hence Diphtheria infection is treated with the administration of a diphtheria antitoxin, administered intravenously or through an intramuscular injection while the Antibiotics are also given to eliminate the bacteria and toxin production, and to prevent transmission to others”, she said.
Beatrice reiterated that children all over the world should be immunized against diphtheria with a 3-dose.
She said: “This primary series during infancy is the foundation for building lifelong immunity to diphtheria. Further, immunization programmes should ensure that 3 booster doses of diphtheria toxoid-containing vaccine are provided during childhood and adolescence.
She stressed that “at any age those who are unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated against diphtheria should receive the doses necessary to complete their vaccination because recent diphtheria outbreaks in several countries reflect inadequate vaccination coverage and have demonstrated the importance of sustaining high levels of coverage in childhood immunization programmes.
“In endemic settings and outbreaks, health-care workers may be at greater risk of diphtheria than the general population. Consequently, special attention should be paid to immunizing health-care workers who may have occupational exposure to Corynebacterium diphtheria” Beatrice said.
The WHO Emergency Manager, however, appealed to the media practitioners to always verify their facts especially figures on operations, implementation and immunization during emergencies in the north east region before going to the press in other to avoid misinformation.
She also assured that WHO will continue to organize more workshops for health journalists in other to keep them abreast with the necessary knowledge, technicalities and principles of Risk Communication while reporting an outbreak.