Diphtheria

For a lay person:

Diphtheria is a serious bacterial infection of the nose and throat, now rare where children are vaccinated. It forms a thick grey coating in the throat that can block breathing, and its toxin can damage the heart and nerves.

For a trained medical person:

Caused by toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae (occasionally C. ulcerans), whose exotoxin causes an adherent pseudomembrane, airway obstruction, myocarditis and neuropathy. Diagnosis is clinical with throat swab culture and toxin testing, and treatment should not wait for results. Management is diphtheria antitoxin, antibiotics such as erythromycin or penicillin, airway support and cardiac monitoring, with isolation, contact prophylaxis and vaccination.

In Chinese medicine:

Liu and Tseng's textbook differentiates this condition into these patterns: Mild Case; Common Type; Severe Type; Extreme Severe Type; Nasal Diphtheria (Rarely Seen, Often Spread from Diphtheria at Pharynx). Treatment follows the pattern a patient presents with, not the Western diagnosis alone.

When to get help: Diphtheria is a medical emergency and a notifiable disease: get urgent medical care for a sore throat with a grey throat coating or breathing difficulty, and public health must be notified. It needs antitoxin and antibiotics; Chinese medicine is adjunctive at most.