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Diphtheria:
Upper respiratory Bacterial infection caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae
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Diphtheria Symptoms:
Begins with sore throat and fever, neck swells
- -often affects throat(pharynx) and larynx (voicebox)
- -creates a pseudomembrane of fibrin, dead tissue and bacterial cells that clogs throat/air passage
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Diphtheria Microbe:
- Microbe: Corynbacterum diphteriae
- --> gram positive
- --> non-endospore-forming rod
- --> cell arranged: palisades
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Diphtheria Vaccines:
- DTap Vaccine: for children, "D" stands for Diphtheria toxoid (inactivated toxin) that allows body to make antibodies against diphtheria.
- --> "Toxoid vaccine" based on inactivated exotoxin
Tdap booster: teens and adults (combined with tetanus shots)
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Diphtheria Transmission:
Droplet transmission; resistant to drying (coughing, sneezing, talking)-also skin contact with humans
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Exotoxin:
- Toxic proteins secreted by bacteria;
- produces strains that cause disease.
- Related bacteria are present on skin and are not pathogenic.
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Mortality and complications from Diphtheria
- Suffocation/death-children mostly
- Heart/peripheral nerve damage
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Diphtheria Diagnostic methods & treatments
Diagnose: throat swab culture; PCR (polymerase chain reaction-method to make many DNA copies) to grown and study
treatments: Antibiotics & antitoxins (penicillin/erythromycin)
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Pertussis:
Whooping cough; damages cilliated cells in respiratory system
- -paralyzes the cilliated cells
- -cause inflammation
- -impairs immune response
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Pertussis Microbe
- caused by Bacterium "Bordetella pertussis"' obligatory aerobic
- gram negative
- coccobacillus
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Pertussis Mode of Transportation
Transportation: respiratory droplets (coughing/sneezing)
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The stages of Pertussis:
First Stage (catarrhal stage) resembles common cold- coughing, sneezing, low fever (100 deg F)
Second Stage (Paroxysmal stage): severe prolonged coughing fits, may make "whoop" sounds; difficult to cough up phlegm when cilliated cells are destroyed.
Third stage: coughing eventually become less frequent and less severe (convalescence)
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Pertussis Complications:
- -break ribs
- -brain damage/death in babies by coughing
- -pneumonia
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Pertussis Diagnosis
Diagnosis: culturing bacteria (swab and identify)
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Pertussis Treatments:
-Herd immunity
- 1. First stage: give antibiotics
- 2. second stage:
- 3. DTaP: subunit of pertussis (begins at 2 months old, given 3 shots total)
- 4. Boosters for teens
- 5. Tdap: adults
- 5. Vaccine rate: 93% herd immunity (reduced chance of infection of vulnerable individuals if a certain high percentage of individuals in the populations are vaccinated or immune.)
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