A case of respiratory toxigenic diphtheria: contact tracing results and considerations following a 30-year disease-free interval, Catalonia, Spain, 2015.

In May 2015, following a 30-year diphtheria-free interval in Catalonia, an unvaccinated 6-year-old child was diagnosed with diphtheria caused by toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae. After a difficult search for equine-derived diphtheria antitoxin (DAT), the child received the DAT 4 days later but died at the end of June. Two hundred and seventeen contacts were identified in relation to the index case, and their vaccination statuses were analysed, updated and completed. Of these, 140 contacts underwent physical examination and throat swabs were taken from them for analysis. Results were positive for toxigenic C. diphtheriae in 10 contacts; nine were asymptomatic vaccinated children who had been in contact with the index case and one was a parent of one of the nine children. Active surveillance of the 217 contacts was initiated by healthcare workers from hospitals and primary healthcare centres, together with public health epidemiological support. Lack of availability of DAT was an issue in our case. Such lack could be circumvented by the implementation of an international fast-track procedure to obtain it in a timely manner. Maintaining primary vaccination coverage for children and increasing booster-dose immunisation against diphtheria in the adult population is of key importance.

Brainstem dysgenesis: report of five patients with congenital hypotonia, multiple cranial nerve involvement, and ocular motor apraxia.

This paper reports three females and two males with a distinctive congenital syndrome characterized by severe congenital hypotonia, facial diplegia, jaw ankylosis, velo-pharyngeal incoordination, pyramidal tract signs, and ocular motor apraxia. Patients were followed up at ages ranging from 20 months to 16 years. All cases of this syndrome are sporadic, without dysmorphological features, chromosomal, or MRI brain abnormalities. Electrophysiological studies indicate the brainstem as the site of the neurological dysfunction. Post-mortem CNS study of one of the patients demonstrated neuronal depletion of the IV, VII, VIII, and IX cranial nerve nuclei and intact morphology of the cerebral hemispheres. A vascular accident, early in foetal life, is the most likely cause of the clinical picture. The extent of brainstem involvement and its related clinical findings distinguishes these patients from those with Moebius, Pierre Robin, or Cogan syndromes. Outcome is better than what could be anticipated during the first few months of life given the severity of symptoms. Intelligence or developmental quotients are within the normal range for their age. Facial hypomimia, feeding, and speech articulatory performance difficulties are the main disabilities observed in these patients at follow-up.