Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T22:30:49.220Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Diphtheria in North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2009

J. M. S. Dixon
J. M. S. Dixon
Affiliation:
National Reference Service for Diphtheria, Provincial Laboratory of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaT6G 2J2
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The incidence of diphtheria has declined in North America during the last fifty years until it is now an uncommon disease. This general pattern is similar to that seen in other developed countries with well-organized immunization programmes, but certain noteworthy characteristics have been observed in recent years: foci of infection lingered in two population groups of low socio-economic status, in both of which the skin has been an important reservoir. In central areas of certain cities, endemic diphtheria, chiefly cutaneous, has occurred amongst indigent adult males living in unhygienic conditions; and in the native Indian population of Northern Canada diphtheria infection has been endemic in infants and children, many of the infections being of the skin or ear and toxic disease being uncommon. During the last few years, diphtheria outbreaks have not been reported in urban areas and possibly endemicity is now restricted to northern native populations. The number of infections detected in these northern endemic areas is steadily decreasing.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Hygiene , Volume 93 , Issue 3 , December 1984 , pp. 419 - 432
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

References

Bader, M., Pedersen, A. H. B., Spearman, J. & Harnisch, J. P. (1978). An unusual case of cutaneous diphtheria. Journal of the American Medical Association 240, 1382–1383.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Belsey, M. A. (1970). Isolation of Corynebaderium diphtheriae in the environment of skin carriers. American Journal of Epidemiology 91, 294–299.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Belsey, M. A., Sinclair, M., Roder, M. R. & Le Blanc, D. R. (1969). Corynebacterium diphtheriae skin infections in Alabama and Louisiana, a factor in the epidemiology of diphtheria. New England Journal of Medicine 280, 135–141.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bourdon, C. A. (1945). The diphtheria situation in Montreal and immunization. Canadian Journal of Public Health 36, 305–311.Google Scholar
Brooks, G. F., Bennett, J. V. & Feldman, R. A. (1974). Diphtheria in the United States, 1959–1970. Journal of Infectious Diseases 129, 172–178.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Center for Disease Control (1971). Diphtheria Surveillance Report, No. 11.Google Scholar
Center for Disease Control (1978). Diphtheria Surveillance Report, No. 12.Google Scholar
Center for Disease Control (1980). Immunization Against Disease 1980.Google Scholar
Centers for Disease Control (1982 a). Fatal diphtheria – Wisconsin. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 31, 553–555.Google Scholar
Centers for Disease Control (1982 b). Annual Summary 1981: reported morbidity and mortality in the United States. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 30, 32.Google Scholar
Cockroft, W. H., Boyko, W. J. & Allen, D. E. (1973). Cutaneous infections due to Coryne-bacterium diphtheriae. Canadian Medical Association Journal 108, 329–331.Google Scholar
Communicable Disease Center (1960). Diphtheria Surveillance Report, No. 7.Google Scholar
Coyle, M. B., Minshew, B. H., Bland, J. A. & Hsu, P. C. (1979). Erythromycin and clindamycin resistance in Corynebaderium diphtheriae from skin lesions. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 16, 525–527.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dixon, J. M. S. & Thorsteinson, S. (1969). Diphtheria bacilli isolated in Alberta in 1907 from the throat, nose, ears and skin. Canadian Medical Association Journal 101, 204–207.Google Scholar
Downes, J. J. (1959). Primary diphtheritic otitis media. Archives of Otology 70, 27–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Drury, D. W. (1925). Diphtheria of the ear. Archives of Otology 1, 221–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitzgerald, J. G., Defries, R. D., Fraser, D. T.Moloney, P. J. & McKinnon, N. E. (1932). Experiences with diphtheria toxoid in Canada. American Journal of Public Health 22, 25–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flor-Henry, P. (1961). Cutaneous diphtheria. A brief historical review and discussion of recent literature, with presentation of two cases. Medical Services Journal of Canada 17, 823–830.Google ScholarPubMed
Forrest, C. R., Gully, P. R., Aldrich, M. & Jellard, C. H. (1977). Diphtheria – Cambridge Bay, N.W.T. Canada Diseases Weekly Report 3, 45.Google Scholar
Frost, W. H., Frobisher, M. Jr, Van Volkenburgh, V. A. & Levin, M. L. (1936). Diphtheria in Baltimore: A comparative study of morbidity, carrier prevalence and antitoxic immunity in 1921–24 and 1933–36. American Journal of Hygiene 24, 568–586.Google Scholar
Gauvreau, L., Breton, J. P., Bergeron, M. G., Dorval, J., Martineau, G. & Frenette, G. (1977). Epidémie de diphtérie survenue sur la Côte Nord du St-Laurent à l'automne de 1974. Canadian Medical Association Journal 116, 1279–1283.Google Scholar
Godfrey, E. S. (1932). Study in the epidemiology of diphtheria in relation to the active immunization of certain age groups. American Journal of Public Health 22, 137–156.Google Scholar
Gourlai, B., Boyland, B., von Heitz, R., King, M. & Jellard, C. H. (1981). Diphtheria–Northwest Territories (Mackenzie and Inuvik Zones). Canada Diseases Weekly Report 7, 53–54.Google Scholar
Gully, P. R., Aldrich, M., Reid, J. & Jellard, C. H. (1977). Diphtheria – Cambridge Bay and Coppermine, N.W.T. Canada Diseases Weekly Report 3, 202–203.Google Scholar
Heath, C. W. Jr, & Zusman, J. (1962). An outbreak of diphtheria among skid-row men. New England Journal of Medicine 267, 809–812.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hennekens, C. H. & Saslaw, M. S. (1976). A diphtheria outbreak in Dade County, Florida. Southern Medical Journal 69, 759–763.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jellard, C. H. (1972). Diphtheria infection in North West Canada, 1969, 1970 and 1971. Journal of Hygiene 70, 503–510.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jellard, C. H. (1982). Diphtheria in Northern Alberta and the Mackenzie and Inuvik Zones of the Northwest Territories, 1969–1981. Canada Diseases Weekly Report 8, 57–59.Google Scholar
Jellard, C. H. & Lipinski, A. E. (1973). Corynebacterium diphtheriae resistant to erythromycin and lincomycin. Lancet i, 156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koopman, J. S. & Campbell, J. (1975). The role of cutaneous diphtheria infections in a diphtheria epidemic. Journal of Infectious Diseases 131, 239–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liebow, A. A., MacLean, R. D., Bumstead, J. H. & Welt, L. G. (1946). Tropical ulcers and cutaneous diphtheria. Archives of Internal Medicine 78, 255–295.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Livingood, C. S., Perry, D. J. & Forrester, J. S. (1946). Cutaneous diphtheria: a report of 140 cases. Journal of Investigative Dermatology 7, 341–364.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marcuse, E. K. & Grand, M. G. (1973). Epidemiology of diphtheria in San Antonio, Tex., 1970. Journal of the American Medical Association 224, 305–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCloskey, R. V., Saragea, A., & Maximescu, P. (1972). Phage typing in outbreaks in the Southwestern United States, 1968–71. Journal of Infectious Diseases 126, 196–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKinnon, N. W., Ross, M. A. & Defries, R. D. (1931). Reduction in diphtheria in 36,000 Toronto school children as a result of an immunization campaign. Canadian Journal of Public Health 22, 217–223.Google Scholar
Moore, H. A. & Larsen, G. I. (1957). Present distribution of diphtheria in the United States. Public Health Reports 72, 537–542.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morton, A. R. (1941). The diphtheria epidemic in Halifax. Canadian Medical Association Journal 45, 171–174.Google ScholarPubMed
Munford, R. S., Ory, H. W., Brooks, G. F. & Feldman, R. A. (1974). Diphtheria deaths in the United States, 1959–1970. Journal of the American Medical Association 229, 1890–1893.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murphy, W. J., Maley, V. H. & Dick, L. (1956). Continued high incidence of diphtheria in a well-immunized community. Public Health Reports 71, 481–486.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naiditch, M. J. & Bower, A. G. (1954). Diphtheria. A study of 1,433 cases observed during a ten-year period at the Los Angeles County Hospital. American Journal of Medicine 17, 229–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pedersen, A. H. B., Spearman, J., Tronca, E., Bader, M. & Harnisch, J. (1977). Diphtheria on Skid Road, Seattle, Wash., 1972–1975. Public Health Reports 92, 336–342.Google Scholar
Reynolds, P. J., Bowmer, E. & Carr, W. G. L. (1976). A localized outbreak of diphtheria–Vancouver Island. Canada Diseases Weekly Report 2, 141–142.Google Scholar
Rockhill, R. C., Sumarmo, , Hadiputranto, H., Siregar, S. P. & Muslihun, B. (1982). Tetracycline resistance of Corynebaderium diphtheriae isolated from diphtheria patients in Jakarta, Indonesia. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 21, 842–843.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Saragea, A. & Maximesou, P. (1964). Schéma provisoire do lysotypie pour Corynebaderium diphtheriae. Archives Roumaines de Pathologie Expérimentale el de Microbiologie 23, 817–838.Google ScholarPubMed
Saragea, A. & Maximesou, P. (1969). Nouveaux types phagiques dans le schéma de lysotypie de C. diphtheriae. Archives lioumaines de Pathologie Expérimentale et de Microbiologie 28, 1053–1058.Google Scholar
Toshach, S., Valentine, A. & Sigurdson, S. (1977). Bacteriophage typing of Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Journal of Infectious Diseases 136, 655–660.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Varughese, P. (1978). Diphtheria in Canada. Canada Diseases Weekly Report 4, 65–68.Google Scholar
Zalma, V. M., Older, J. J. & Brooks, G. F. (1970). The Austin, Texas, diphtheria outbreak. Clinical and epidemiological aspects. Journal of the American Medical Association 211, 2125–2129.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed