MADRID, December 5 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC, for its English acronym) has warned of an increasing number of diphtheria cases among migrants in the European Union, and with “extraordinarily widespread” resistance of ‘Corynebacterium diphtheriae’ to common oral agents. and parenteral antibiotics.

Diphtheria is a bacterial infection that can be prevented by vaccination. Transmission occurs via airborne respiratory droplets, direct contact with respiratory secretions, or direct contact with exudate from infected skin lesions. Diphtheria can present with respiratory or skin symptoms, and in some cases can affect the heart, kidneys and nervous system.

Since the beginning of 2022 until December 2, 154 cases of diphtheria have been reported in eight European countries: Spain (1), Germany (64), Austria (42), Belgium (18), France (14), Norway (7), Netherlands ( 5) and Italy (3).

Cases of diphtheria linked to migrants have also been reported in Switzerland (25) and the UK (53), bringing the total in Europe to 232 cases. The vast majority of cases have been diagnosed among immigrants living in or at immigrant reception centers.

This is an increase of 140 cases since the publication of the ECDC report on October 6, when seven European countries reported 92 cases of diphtheria among migrants and one fatal case was identified. ‘C. diphtheriae’ was detected in all cases, and most of them showed a skin form of the disease.

On 3 November, a rapid communication published in ‘Eurosurveillance’ reported two detections of ‘C. diphtheriae’ in Switzerland may be related to the increase observed in EU/EEA, and the prediction of unusually widespread resistance to common oral and parenteral antibiotics.

According to the authors, these findings call into question the treatment options for bacterial co-infection in case wounds. On 17 November, another rapid communication was published in ‘Eurosurveillance’, in which phenotypic and predictive resistance data from cases from Germany confirmed observations of the predicted resistance profile of two isolates from Switzerland.

On 1 December, the UK Health Safety Agency (UKHSA) published ‘Additional Guidance for Cases and Outbreaks in Asylum Seeker Accommodation Settings’, recommending antimicrobial susceptibility testing of all ‘C. diphtheria’.

In this regard, the ECDC has indicated that “the appearance of isolates (in other European countries) displaying genomic profiles suggesting antimicrobial resistance similar to those observed in Switzerland and Germany cannot be ruled out.”

Given this situation, the ECDC has recommended, as a precaution, that antimicrobial susceptibility testing be carried out on all C’ isolates. diphtheria’.

As of December 2, the ECDC has clarified, however, that there is no data showing increased transmission and outbreaks of ‘C. diphtheriae’ in the general EU/EEA population as a result of the increasing number of observed diphtheria cases.