What is the toxin that causes diphtheria?
Diphtheria is a serious infection caused by strains of bacteria called Corynebacterium diphtheriae that make a toxin (poison). It is the toxin that can cause people to get very sick. Diphtheria bacteria spread from person to person, usually through respiratory droplets, like from coughing or sneezing.
What does diphtheria toxin do?
Diphtheria toxin kills cells by inhibiting eukaryotic protein synthesis, and its mechanism of action has been extensively characterized. This potent toxin inactivates elongation factor (EF-2) required for protein synthesis (Collier, 1967).
How does someone get Corynebacterium?
Diphtheria is an infection caused by strains of bacteria called Corynebacterium diphtheriae that make toxin. Diphtheria spreads from person to person, usually through respiratory droplets, like from coughing or sneezing. It can also spread by touching open sores or ulcers of someone with a diphtheria skin infection.
What is a diphtheria toxin test?
Elek’s test or the Elek plate test is an in vitro test of virulence performed on specimens of Corynebacterium diphtheriae, the bacteria that causes diphtheria. It is used to test for toxigenicity of C. diphtheriae strains. The test uses immunodiffusion.
What is black diphtheria?
The bacteria most commonly infect your nose and throat. The throat infection causes a gray to black, tough, fiber-like covering, which can block your airways. In some cases, diphtheria infects your skin first and causes skin lesions. Once you are infected, the bacteria make dangerous substances called toxins.
Where did diphtheria originate from?
The diphtheria bacterium was first identified in the 1880s and in the 1890s diphtheria antitoxin was developed in Germany to treat victims of the disease.
How does diphtheria toxin cause cell death?
How common is diphtheria now?
In the 1920s, there were between 100,000 and 200,000 cases of diphtheria each year with 13,000–15,000 deaths. Because of widespread immu- nization and better living conditions, diphtheria is now rare in the United States (during 2004–2017, state health departments reported 2 cases of diphtheria in the United States).