{"id":14672,"date":"2021-04-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/05-04-2021\/trends-in-diphtheria-incidence\/"},"modified":"2021-04-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-05T00:00:00","slug":"trends-in-diphtheria-incidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/05-04-2021\/trends-in-diphtheria-incidence","title":{"rendered":"Trends in Diphtheria Incidence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In News<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Researchers from India, the U.K. and Russia have analysed a large collection of 502 genomes of the bacterium that causes diphtheria \u2013 Corynebacterium diphtheriae.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key Takeaways<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There is an increasing trend in the number of cases of diphtheria globally, as the <strong>number of cases in 2018 (16,651)<\/strong> was double the<strong> 1996\u20132017 average (8,105).<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>50% of the cases<\/strong> that came up in 2018 were in India<strong>.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>In order to map out the <strong>genetic spread of the organism,<\/strong> the group has done a <strong>phylogenetic analysis<\/strong> that basically gives a picture of the <strong>family tree of the species.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Unlike certain other bacteria, <strong>C. diphtheriae<\/strong> has shown a diversity in evolution, which makes it, as a species, more stable and powerful.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>They analyse the genes for their capacity towards <strong>Antimicrobial Resistance. <\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Compared to the 1990s, isolates from the <strong>decade spanning the years from 2010 to 2019<\/strong> show the <strong>highest average number of antimicrobial resistance<\/strong> genes encoding resistance for<strong> sulphonamide, aminoglycoside, chloramphenicol and trimethoprim.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>These <strong>antimicrobial resistance genes<\/strong> might have been transferred by the mobile genetic elements from other bacteria.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Finally, the researchers study the <strong>variations (or mutations) <\/strong>in the <strong>tox gene, <\/strong>which is responsible for <strong>producing the diphtheria toxin<\/strong> \u2013 which is the main <strong>target of the vaccinations.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>They identified <strong>18 tox gene variants<\/strong>, with <strong>mutations<\/strong> estimated in its <strong>toxin structural impact.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>About Diphtheria <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Diphtheria is a serious infection caused by strains of bacteria called Corynebacterium diphtheriae that make toxin (poison).<\/li>\n<li>It is an <strong>aerobic gram-positive bacillus.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Toxin production (toxigenicity) occurs only when the<strong> bacillus is itself infected (lysogenized) <\/strong>by a specific virus <strong>(bacteriophage)<\/strong> carrying the <strong>genetic information<\/strong> for the <strong>toxin (tox gene).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Infects the throat and upper airways, and produces a toxin affecting other organs.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Symptoms<\/strong>: Diphtheria usually begins with <strong>angina (a type of chest pain) and tonsillitis <\/strong>symptoms, <strong>sore throat, mild fever and swollen glands<\/strong> in the neck.\n<ul>\n<li>The toxin causes a membrane of dead tissue to build up over the throat and tonsils, making breathing and swallowing difficult.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Transmission<\/strong>: Diphtheria bacteria <strong>spread from person to person,<\/strong> usually<strong> through respiratory<\/strong> <strong>droplets, <\/strong>like from <strong>coughing or sneezing<\/strong>.\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>People can also <strong>get sick from touching infected open sores or ulcers.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>In countries endemic for diphtheria, the disease occurs mostly in sporadic cases or in small outbreaks.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fatality: <\/strong>The diphtheria toxin causes inflammation of heart muscle (myocarditis) and this can lead to death if not treated with Diphtheria antitoxin and proper antibiotics.\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0It is fatal in 5-10% of cases, with a higher mortality rate in young children.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Treatment: <\/strong>Involves administering <strong>diphtheria antitoxin to neutralize the effects<\/strong> of the toxin, as well as <strong>antibiotics to kill the bacteria.<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The vaccine is a<strong> bacterial toxoid (a toxin whose toxicity<\/strong> has been inactivated).<\/li>\n<li>Vaccination has reduced the <strong>mortality and morbidity<\/strong> of <strong>diphtheria dramatically<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cfstatic.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/file_library\/mix_content\/710635663488551600_image.png\" style=\"height:275px; margin-left:150px; margin-right:150px; width:441px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Image Courtesy: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=i&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thehindu.com%2Fnews%2Fcities%2FHyderabad%2Fyoung-adults-no-more-remain-untouched-by-diphtheria%2Farticle24422161.ece&#038;psig=AOvVaw3jLWIJdSpy6jis_aXvUgHh&#038;ust=1617713936196000&#038;source=images&#038;cd=vfe&#038;ved=0CA0QjhxqFwoTCKCGpMOU5-8CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TH<\/a><\/p>\n<table border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:735px\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"background-color:#fce5cd; width:6.5in\">\n<p><strong>Anti- Microbial Resistance (AMR)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to WHO, it is the ability of a microorganism (like bacteria, viruses, and some parasites) to stop an antimicrobial (such as antibiotics, antivirals and antimalarials) from working against it. As a result, standard treatments become ineffective, infections persist and may spread to others.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Challenges posed by AMR <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Difficulty in controlling the diseases.<\/li>\n<li>Causes out of pocket expenditure on health care.<\/li>\n<li>WHO published a list of \u2018priority pathogens\u2019, also called superbugs which pose the greatest threat to human health.<\/li>\n<li>High annual healthcare cost.<\/li>\n<li>Pose socio-economic problems in the nation like more budgetary requirement goes to the health care, impacting social values etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Tackling the AMR challenge<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There are two major possible solutions to combat the AMR menace: discovery of new drugs, before the emergence of resistance in germs; and prudent use of available antibiotics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>India\u2019s Initiatives in Tackling AMR<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Prohibits medical stores from selling 24 key antibiotics without doctor\u2019s prescription.<\/li>\n<li>India\u2019s Red Line campaign<\/li>\n<li>National Health Policy, 2017<\/li>\n<li>National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (NAP-AMR) 2017<\/li>\n<li>One Health Approach in tackling AMR<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/science\/researchers-foresee-trends-in-diphtheria-incidence\/article34232408.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source :TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In News Researchers from India, the U.K. and Russia have analysed a large collection of 502 genomes of the bacterium that causes diphtheria \u2013 Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Key Takeaways There is an increasing trend in the number of cases of diphtheria globally, as the number of cases in 2018 (16,651) was double the 1996\u20132017 average (8,105). [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[30,47],"class_list":["post-14672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","tag-gs-2","tag-health"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/7227268current-affairs.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}