Diphtheria is a disease that you seldom hear about these days. The very
effective childhood immunization program that has been in place for many years
is the primary reason for this. All children within their first year of life
are immunized for this disease and follow-up vaccines are given throughout
infancy.
What is diphtheria? In North America it primarily manifests as a severe sore throat. Diphtheria is characterized by a mild fever and after one or two days the development of a marked pussy throat. This is called a membranous nasopharyngitis which may be accompanied with swelling of the throat and larynx. If this swelling is severe enough it may lead to obstruction of the upper airways which can lead to respiratory arrest. The aim in preventing this disease is to prevent these severe complications.
As previously mentioned, most children are vaccinated against this disease very early in life. This vaccine is a more commonly a combination vaccine with tetanus and whooping cough. However, the immunity to diphtheria does wane over time so it is important to get a booster every 10 years. Humans are the only reservoir for this disease. Thus even if you don’t get severely ill from becoming infected you may be the source for someone else. So get a booster at Student Health at no cost to you!
What is diphtheria? In North America it primarily manifests as a severe sore throat. Diphtheria is characterized by a mild fever and after one or two days the development of a marked pussy throat. This is called a membranous nasopharyngitis which may be accompanied with swelling of the throat and larynx. If this swelling is severe enough it may lead to obstruction of the upper airways which can lead to respiratory arrest. The aim in preventing this disease is to prevent these severe complications.
As previously mentioned, most children are vaccinated against this disease very early in life. This vaccine is a more commonly a combination vaccine with tetanus and whooping cough. However, the immunity to diphtheria does wane over time so it is important to get a booster every 10 years. Humans are the only reservoir for this disease. Thus even if you don’t get severely ill from becoming infected you may be the source for someone else. So get a booster at Student Health at no cost to you!