United States: The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) revealed the first two cases of infectious diseases similar to diphtheria that are passed between people and/or their animals, both of which started in Utah and Colorado.
More about the case
The respiratory illnesses took place in 2022 and 2023 and operations involved the Corynebacterium ulceran bacterium that has linkages to the germ of diptheria.
A recent survey conducted in Japan also found that the C. ulceran “is widely distributed in the environment and is considered one of the most harmful pathogens to livestock and wildlife.”
Contact between pet animals and people that involves passing of the flu virus is much rarer, nonetheless, as US News reported.
First-time detection in the US
The first case ever reported in the United States was reported in 2022 in Utah, with a person in same civil partnership with a spouse, another housemate, and three cats and one dog.
One patient had diabetes, he/she developed a leg ulcer that did not heal. The result of the laboratory test performed on the wound exudate showed that the wound was infected with C. ulceran, while further testing revealed that the person’s spouse as well as two of the three cats at the homes also tested positive to the bacterium.
Appropriate antibiotic treatment was administered to all members of the family, including pets, and the infections subdued steadily.
Case about the second incidence
The research team, which was led by Amanda Metz of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said that the second case reported occurred last year, which involved “a Colorado resident experiencing non-resolving upper respiratory symptoms,” as US News reported.
The patient was living with a spouse and two dogs at home, and a visitor had been staying for two days with his/her dog.
All the people in the clinical setting were without signs or symptoms of illness except the patient, but laboratory examination showed a positive test for C. ulceration in the patient and the visitor’s dog.
The disease was treated by using the antibiotic called erythromycin for all members of the household, and the patient got better.
What have the experts to state?
The team of Metz, for instance, thinks that doctors are now have to beware of C. ulceran which has symptoms closely resembling diphtheria.
Moreover, the researchers said that it is quite possible that the diphtheria vaccine might fight C. ulceran, so “routine vaccination with diphtheria toxoid-containing vaccines are important to protect persons,” as US News reported.
The researchers added that although C. ulceran does not spread person-to-person, but “Human-to-human transmission has not been documented.”
As Metz’s team concluded, “Evidence from this investigation suggests that transmission of toxigenic C. ulcerans between humans and household pets occurred, although the direction of transmission could not be determined.”