Diphtheria

Francisco de Goya Y Lucientes 30 March 1746, Fuendetodos, Zaragoza, Spain – 16 April 1828, Bordeaux, France Goya is one of the most distinctive Spanish artists of all time and one of the finest Spanish artists of all time and one of the finest European painters and printmakers of the nineteenth century. His vast and highly varied body of work, which includes paintings, drawings, and prints depicting many aspects of everyday life, provides a vivid insight into a period of political and social unrest in Europe during the Napoleonic era.
He was a brilliant and revolutionary artist whose influence extended across several artistic movements, from Romanticism and Realism to Impressionism. ♦ Croup (El garotillo) ♦
A doctor examines a painful throat and feels the inflamed area with his fingers.

♦ Diagnosis
Main symptoms: Sore throat; harsh, barking cough
Additional symptoms: The boy is having difficulty breathing
Clinical diagnosis: Laryngeal diphtheria (croup)

♦ Definition: diphteriae
A contagious disease caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae. The bacterium produces a characteristic false membrane, or pseudomembrane, over the mucous membranes of the throat, larynx, and trachea, and in rare cases also over the conjunctiva or vaginal mucosa.
The disease causes local pain, swelling, and discomfort. Its toxin may cause fever, exhaustion, heart damage, and sometimes paralysis or death.

♦ Definition
Diphtheria was once a common and often fatal disease. However, widespread preventive vaccination has made it so rare that many doctors have never encountered a case.In large parts of Asia and Africa, however, diphtheria still remains an important cause of disease.Prompt treatment is vital for the patient. A doctor should therefore always consider the possibility of diphtheria when examining someone who complains of a sore throat.Sudden heart failure caused by the myocardial toxicity of diphtheria toxin is responsible for most deaths. Another interesting and more plausible interpretation of this work was proposed in 1997 by L. F. Grymer and W. Pirzing.
When an inventory of Goya’s works was compiled in 1812, painting no. 25, entitled El Lazarillo de Tormes, was recorded as having been given to his son.
Lazarillo is a young boy who guides a blind man. Tormes is a place in Castile, Spain. For this reason, it is more likely that the painting should be interpreted as follows.
Lazarillo de Tormes is an anonymous Spanish novella from the sixteenth century. It tells the story of Lazarillo’s everyday life, and Goya’s painting refers to one of its episodes. A blind man gives the boy a sausage to roast. Unable to resist his hunger, the young rogue quickly eats it and places a turnip on the fire instead. When the blind man discovers the deception and the boy denies having exchanged the sausage, he thrusts two fingers into the boy’s mouth and uses his long nose to smell whether he has eaten it. The man’s tight grip causes the painful grimace and the boy’s eyes to turn away.

Source: Jan Dequeker

Diphteria
Diphtheria, formerly also known as croup, is a serious and contagious infectious disease caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriae. It can be transmitted from person to person through respiratory droplets released by coughing. Before vaccination became widely available, diphtheria was one of the most common causes of death among children. The bacterium produces a toxin that can damage tissues, including the skin, throat, heart, and nervous system. The symptoms depend on the site of infection. The incubation period, which is the time between infection and the first symptoms, is usually two to five days and rarely longer than seven days.

What does Corynebacterium diphteriae look like under the microscope and on blood agar and Tinsdale agar?

♦♦♦ Corynebacterium diphteriae

Microscopic examination:
Gram-positive rods arranged in palisades, V-shaped formations, or characteristic “Chinese-letter” patterns

Culture:

Blood agar:
The bacterium grows as white to grey colonies.

Tinsdale agar: (selective medium)
The bacterium forms grey to black colonies, often surrounded by a brown or dark halo.

Medical Microbiology & Infectious Disease (MMIZ)
Erasmus ziekenhuis
Rotterdam

Diphtheria

References