The Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, through the General Directorate of Public Health of the Canary Health Service (SCS), reports a case of a carrier of the bacteria that causes diphtheria in a 10-year-old patient from Gran Canaria, after a trip abroad.
The patient presented skin lesions of unusual appearance upon returning from the trip and, after collecting samples for culture, the bacteria that causes diphtheria was detected, which was also found in pharyngeal samples.
Thanks to being properly vaccinated for their age, they have evolved favorably after receiving the appropriate treatment, without requiring hospital admission.
This case has been confirmed by the National Center for Microbiology, an organization to which the SCS, following the established protocol, sent the samples taken from the patient upon their isolation in the cultures.
In addition, the General Directorate of Public Health is conducting the corresponding epidemiological study among the close contacts of the diagnosed patient, without any suspected cases of diphtheria being registered among these people so far. So far, about thirty people from the confirmed case's environment have been monitored.
As it is a mandatory reporting disease, the General Directorate of Public Health of the SCS has already notified this case to the National Epidemiological Surveillance Network (RENAVE).
Vaccination against diphtheria
The vaccination schedule in the Canary Islands for all ages of life includes vaccination against diphtheria at two, four, and eleven months of the baby's life and at six and fourteen years of age in childhood.
In addition, in the case of the adult population, the schedule includes this vaccine, combined with tetanus, for people over fourteen years of age who have not been properly vaccinated previously and a booster from 65 years of age in those vaccinated in childhood.
In the Canary Islands, the rate of childhood vaccination against diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis reached 93.18 percent of the population under twelve months during 2023. These levels of vaccination coverage, maintained for many years, have made this disease an absolute rarity in our country.
Vaccination protects against infection, but does not completely eliminate the possibility of asymptomatic colonization.
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an acute infectious disease caused by the diphtheria toxin produced by some strains of the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Cutaneous diphtheria, usually more benign, is characterized by the appearance of ulcers on the skin and can cause pain, redness, and swelling like other bacterial skin infections.
Diphtheria is transmitted by droplets and by contact with a sick person or an asymptomatic carrier. Domestic animals, dogs, and cats carrying toxigenic strains of Corynebacterium, especially Corynebacterium ulcerans, can also transmit the disease, as well as cattle, which represent the most common reservoir of Corynebacterium ulcerans.
Diphtheria in Spain
In Spain, diphtheria is a very rare disease thanks to the high rates of childhood vaccination obtained with the DTP vaccine (Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis) that began in the 1960s and has continued all these years.
According to data from the Ministry of Health, during 2023 only two cases of diphtheria were reported in Spain, a 55-year-old man in the Valencian Community and a 72-year-old woman in Galicia.
The last case registered with a fatal outcome in our country occurred in an unvaccinated six-year-old child in Olot (Girona).
