Diphtheria is caused by Corynebacterium species, mostly by toxin-producing Corynebacterium diphtheriae and rarely by toxin-producing strains of C. ulcerans and C. pseudotuberculosis. The most common type of diphtheria is classic respiratory diphtheria, whereby the exotoxin produced characteristicall...y causes the formation of a pseudomembrane in the upper respiratory tract and damages other organs, usually the myocardium and peripheral nerves. Acute respiratory obstruction, acute systemic toxicity, myocarditis and neurologic complications are the usual causes of death. The infection can also affect the skin (cutaneous diphtheria). More rarely, it can affect mucous membranes at other non-respiratory sites, such as genitalia and conjunctiva.
C. diphtheriae is transmitted from person to person by intimate respiratory and direct contact; in contrast, C. ulcerans and C. pseudotuberculosis are zoonotic infections, not transmitted person-to-person. The incubation period of C. diphtheriae is two to five days (range 1– 10 days). A person is infectious as long as virulent bacteria are present in respiratory secretions, usually two weeks without antibiotics, and seldom more than six weeks. In rare cases, chronic carriers may shed organisms for six months or more. Skin lesions are often chronic and infectious for longer periods. Effective antibiotic therapy (penicillin or erythromycin) promptly terminates shedding in about one or two days.
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DHS Further Analysis Reports No. 98
The present report is submitted pursuant to Security Council resolution 2164 (2014), by which the Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) and requested me to report to it every three months on the implementation of the re...solution and the progress on the implementation of the Mission’s mandate. The present report covers the period from 17 December 2014 to 19 March 2015.
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Front. Trop. Dis. , 09 May 2023 Sec. Neglected Tropical Diseases Volume 4 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fitd.2023.1087003
The second edition of the Women and Trachoma: Achieving Gender Equity in the Implementation of SAFE manual provides an updated resource for realistically increasing, improving, and supporting gender representation within trachoma elimination efforts at all levels. From the trachoma workforce to the ...patients, from trichiasis surgeons to schoolteachers, and from national to international managers and coordinators, the manual breaks down the various levels of trachoma elimination programming to highlight the areas where women and girls can have a greater impact in elimination effort
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Evaluation report November 2014
The Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act
Confidentiality: providing and protecting information
• Health care practitioners hold information about patients that is private and sensitive.
• The National Health Act (Act No. 61 of 2003) provides that this information must not be given to... others, unless the patient consents or the health care practitioner can justify the disclosure.
• Practitioners are responsible for ensuring that clerks, receptionists and other staff respect confidentiality in their performance of their duties.
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Monitoring implementation of the Dublin Declaration on Partnership to Fight HIV/AIDS in Europe and Central Asia: 2012 progress
Special Report