Abstract
Diphtheria is an acute respiratory tract infection caused by the toxigenic strains of Corynebacterium diphtheriae. It has the potential to cause severe morbidity and mortality through its complications such as myocarditis and neuropathies. It continues to be a public health concern since its re-emergence over the last couple of years in various Indian states. Apart from the school going children, recent outbreaks have seen an age shift towards older children, adolescents, and adults. Plugging of gaps in the routine immunization coupled with inclusion of booster doses in the national data on diphtheria vaccination is the need of the hour.
Keywords:
diphtheria, immunization, outbreak, resurgence, vaccineReferences
Mohanty A, Bhatia M, Gupta P, Varshney S, Malhotra M, Omar BJ. Diphtheria: The patch still remains—A case report from the state of Uttarakhand. J Pharm Bioall Sci. 2019; 11:190-3.
Pati I. Diphtheria cases on rise in Palwal and Nuh, 3 kids die. The Times of India. Noida. October 23, 2023. Available from: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/diphtheria-cases-on-rise-in-palwal-and-nuh-3-kids-die/articleshow/104636003.cms. Accessed March 10, 2024.
National Health Profile 2022. Central Bureau of Health Intelligence. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Government of India. Available from: https://cbhidghs.mohfw.gov.in/WriteReadData/l892s/94203846761680514146.pdf. Accessed March 12, 2024.
World Health Organization. Global Health Observatory (GH)O): By category: Diphtheria - Reported cases by country. Available from: https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/indicators/indicator-details/GHO/diphtheria---number-of-reported-cases. Accessed March 10, 2024.
Sangal L, Joshi S, Anandan S, et al. Resurgence of Diphtheria in North Kerala, India, 2016: Laboratory Supported Case-Based Surveillance Outcomes. Front. Public Health. 2017; 5:218. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2017.00218.
Maramraj KK, Latha MK, Reddy R, et al. Addressing reemergence of diphtheria among adolescents through program integration in India. Emerg Infect Dis. 2021; 27(3): 953.
Clarke KEN, MacNeil A, Hadler S, et al. Global epidemiology of diphtheria, 2000–2017. Emerg Infect Dis. 2019; 25:1834–42. https://doi.org/10.3201/ eid2510.190271.
World Health Organization. Diphtheria vaccine: WHO position paper, August 2017—recommendations. Vaccine. 2018; 36:199–201. https://doi.org/10.1016/ j. vaccine.2017.08.024.
Tiwari T, Wharton M. Diphtheria toxoid. In: Plotkin SA, Orenstein WA, Offit PA, editors. Vaccines, 6th ed. Edinburgh: Elsevier Saunders; 2013. p. 153–66.
Gupta A, Gujral M, Singh A, Chawla K. Diphtheria resurgence in India: A case study from south Karnataka. J Family Med Prim Care. 2020; 9:5776-8.
Murhekar MV, Bitragunta S. Persistence of diphtheria in India. Indian J Community Med. 2011; 36:164-5.
Patil S, Vedpathak M, Dharmshale S, Shaikh N. Diphtheria: A case series from West Maharashtra, India. J Med Sci Health. 2022; 8: 93-96.
Murhekar M. Epidemiology of Diphtheria in India, 1996–2016: Implications for Prevention and Control. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2017; 97:313–318. Available from: https://dx. doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.17-0047.
Shaffi M, Nayar KR, Lal SS. Diphtheria Deaths in Kerala: Signs of an Impending Crisis. Economic and political weekly. 2015; 50 (43). Available from: https://www.epw.in/journal/ 2015/43/reports-states-web-exclusives/diphtheria-deaths-kerala.html. Accessed March 8, 2024.
Gavi The Vaccine Alliance. Emerging threats. Available from: https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/why-diphtheria-presents-growing-threat-our-health. Accessed March 7, 2024.
Fauzi IS, Nuraini N, Sari AM, et al. Assessing the impact of booster vaccination on diphtheria transmission: Mathematical modelling and risk zone mapping. Infect Dis Model. 2024; 9(1): 245-62.
Tetanus and adult diphtheria (Td) operational guidelines. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Government of India. Available from: Td_vaccine_operational_guidelines.pdf. Accessed March 10, 2024.
Universal Immunization Program. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Government of India. Available from: https://main.mohfw.gov.in/sites/default/files/Universal.pdf. Accessed March 6, 2024.
India Science Wire. Study warns diphtheria could become a major global threat. Down To Earth. India. Available from: https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/health/study-warns-diphtheria-could-become-a-major-global-threat-75866. Accessed March 7, 2024.
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Drishti Sagar
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright© by the author(s). Published by the Evidence Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
