photo"/>Diphtheria. Photo: Evija Trifanova/LETA
After a three-year break, a case of diphtheria has been registered in Latvia, informed the Disease Prevention and Control Center (SPKC).
Last week, SPKC received information about a confirmed case of diphtheria and started an epidemiological investigation. In the period from 2009 to 2019, 119 cases of diphtheria were registered in Latvia, nine of them, or 7.6%, ended fatally.
SPKC emphasizes that vaccination plays a crucial role in the prevention of diphtheria, however vaccination against diphtheria has decreased since 2020. SPKC 2021 data show that the vaccination coverage against diphtheria and tetanus was higher only for infants aged two months – 95.9% (first vaccination) and for children aged 12 to 15 months – 97.3%, but as the person’s age increases, vaccinations coverage decreases. For babies aged six to 11 months, it was 94.4%, for children aged seven – 89.3% (in 2022 – 89.5%), for teenagers aged 14 – 68.3% (in 2022 81.8% ), but for adults – 52.8% (51.7% in 2022).
SPKC emphasizes that insufficient vaccination coverage creates a risk of outbreak of diphtheria and spread of infection.
Vaccination against diphtheria is paid for by the state. You can get it from your family doctor. To confirm the vaccination status, you should check the entries in the Vaccination Passport and contact your family doctor’s practice.
Timely vaccination and booster vaccinations protect against diphtheria. Various combination vaccines contain diphtheria toxoid, or rendered harmless diphtheria toxin. The body of a vaccinated person has antibodies which, in case of infection, neutralize the toxin produced by the causative agent of diphtheria, and the infection does not harm the person. However, the amount of antibodies decreases with time, so regular booster vaccinations are necessary, explains SPKC.
Children in Latvia are vaccinated against diphtheria at the age of two, four, six and 12 to 15 months, and then at the age of seven and 14. To extend lifelong immunity, adults need a booster vaccination every ten years.
After contracting diphtheria, full-fledged immunity against diphtheria is not formed, so even people who have had diphtheria in the past should be vaccinated regularly.
SPKC reminds that no vaccination protects 100% from getting sick. It happens that vaccinated people also fall ill with diphtheria, but in this case the disease proceeds in a mild form, with symptoms similar to angina – redness of the throat, sore throat. Such patients recover in a few days and do not have complications caused by diphtheria toxin.
The source of diphtheria infection can be both a person with diphtheria and a healthy person who does not suffer from diphtheria but is a carrier of the diphtheria bacterium.
Most often, diphtheria sticks enter the human body through the tonsils, throat and nasal mucosa. Diphtheria can be contracted by inhaling air containing microscopic droplets of the bacteria, which are spread by talking, coughing or sneezing by a diphtheria sufferer or a carrier of the bacteria. In this way, you can get infected in the workplace, shop, public transport, cafe, club, cinema, and other public places.
The infection also has a cutaneous form, when a person becomes infected through a wound, and such lesions are more difficult to recognize.
The incubation period of the disease is from two to five days, but in some cases it can be up to ten days. Sometimes, at the beginning of the disease, a slightly increased body temperature, weakness, sweating can be observed. These symptoms gradually progress, and the characteristic signs of diphtheria develop, such as general weakness, fever, sore throat, redness, swelling, difficulty swallowing.
SPKC states – if a person shows any signs characteristic of diphtheria, he should be hospitalized immediately, isolated and specific treatment should be started. If you notice signs of diphtheria, contact your family doctor immediately. Diphtheria is considered confirmed when its causative agent is isolated in the laboratory.
Author: LETA
