Diphtheria: Epidemiology, Pathogenesis, Clinical Features, Complications, Diagnosis and Treatment

A lesson on Corynebacterium diphtheriae - its four biotypes, growth on selective media, spread by airborne droplets and by direct contact with respiratory secretions or skin exudates, and the socio-economic and hygiene factors that affect spread. It takes the pathogenesis of the toxigenic and non-toxigenic strains and the grey-brown pseudomembrane that can suffocate, the clinical features and differential diagnosis, cutaneous diphtheria, the toxic cardiomyopathy and neuropathy, diagnosis, treatment with passive immunisation by antiserum antitoxin, bed rest and isolation, and the prognosis.