Are diphtheria symptoms serious?

Diphtheria is a common acute respiratory infectious disease. After the onset of the disease, patients often experience symptoms such as coughing, breathlessness, and hoarseness. At this time, some white pseudomembrane tissue hyperplasia will appear in the patient's throat. More serious patients will also cause symptoms of systemic poisoning. If the immunity is relatively poor, it may even induce myocarditis or peripheral nerve paralysis, etc. Therefore, if you have this disease, you must treat it in time.

(1) Pharyngeal diphtheria without pseudomembrane

When diphtheria is prevalent, some patients only have upper respiratory tract symptoms such as sore throat, and the systemic poisoning symptoms are relatively mild. There was only mild inflammation of the pharynx. Tonsils may be enlarged, but there is no pseudomembrane formation, or only a small amount of fibrinous exudate, and bacterial culture is positive. Such patients are prone to misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis.

(2) Localized pharyngeal diphtheria

The pseudomembrane is limited to the palatine arch, uvula, etc., and the symptoms are mild.

The pseudomembrane is limited to one or both tonsils. The onset is slow, and the subjective symptoms include mild to moderate fever, general malaise, fatigue, loss of appetite and mild sore throat. The tonsils are congested and slightly swollen, and the pseudomembranes are initially dot-like and then fuse into sheets. The submandibular lymph nodes may be swollen and slightly painful.

(3) Toxic diphtheria

It is mainly transformed from localized and disseminated types. Most of them are accompanied by mixed infections. If not treated promptly, the mortality rate is extremely high.

Symptoms of this type: the pseudomembrane is mostly black due to bleeding, the tonsils and pharynx are highly swollen, blocking the pharyngeal opening, or there is necrosis and ulceration, with a special corrupt odor. The cervical lymph nodes are swollen and the surrounding soft tissues are edematous, resulting in a thickening of the neck (cow neck). The symptoms of systemic poisoning are severe, including high fever, shortness of breath, cyanosis of lips, thin and rapid pulse, and arrhythmia.

(4). Disseminated pharyngeal diphtheria

The pseudomembrane extends from the tonsils to the uvula, soft palate, posterior pharyngeal wall, nasopharynx or larynx. The pseudomembrane is grayish white or yellowish white, with clear boundaries and severe redness and swelling in the surrounding tissues. The tonsils on both sides are swollen and even block the pharynx, causing difficulty in breathing. The lymph nodes in the neck are swollen and there is edema around them.