Infectious Disease Guidelines | Updated Diptheria Guidelines 2024

Originally published In WHO

In response to the 2023 outbreaks of diphtheria in Nigeria, Guinea and surrounding countries, the WHO has released updated evidenced-based clinical practice guidelines for practitioners to assist in the management of the infectious disease.

The guideline, released on the 2nd of February 2024,  focuses on the clinical management of respiratory diphtheria and does not provide advice on vaccination. 

As the guideline summary details, three new recommendations have been included in this edition.  As extracted from the guidelines, they are as follows: 

“In patients with suspected or confirmed diphtheria, WHO recommends using macrolide antibiotics (azithromycin, erythromycin) in preference to penicillin antibiotics [Strong recommendation, low certainty evidence].

In patients with suspected or confirmed diphtheria, WHO recommends not performing routine sensitivity testing before administering diphtheria antitoxin (DAT) [Strong recommendation, moderate certainty evidence]. 

In patients with suspected or confirmed symptomatic diphtheria, WHO suggests an escalating dosing regimen for diphtheria antitoxin (DAT) which is based on disease severity and time since symptom onset, in comparison with a fixed dose for all patients [conditional recommendation, very low certainty evidence].” ¹

The document is a living guideline, and practitioners are urged to keep abreast of updates and additions via MAGICapp.(  https://app.magicapp.org/#/guideline/7759 )
 

Download the Clinical Guideline Update
Clinical management of diphtheria: guideline, 2 February 2024 WHO/Diph/Clinical/2024.1

Download the WHO information regarding Diphtheria
Diphtheria: Vaccine Preventable Diseases Surveillance Standards. 2018

References
1. Clinical management of diphtheria: guideline, 2 February 2024 WHO/Diph/Clinical/2024.1

 Back to top

Disclaimer
This article is compiled from a variety of resources researched and compiled by the contributor. It is in no way presented as an original work.  Every effort has been made to correctly attribute quotes and content. Where possible all information has been independently verified. The Medical Education Network bears no responsibility for any inaccuracies which may occur from the use of third-party sources. If you have any queries regarding this article contact us 

Fact-checking Policy
The Medical Education Network makes every effort to review and fact-check the articles used as source material in our summaries and original material. We have strict guidelines in relation to the publications we use as our source data, favouring peer-reviewed research wherever possible. Every effort is made to ensure that the information contained here is an accurate reflection of the original material. Should you find inaccuracies, out of date content or have any additional issues with our articles, please make use of the contact us form to notify us.