All You Need to Know About Diphtheria

All You Need to Know About Diphtheria

All You Need to Know About Diphtheria (And the Diphtheria IgG Elisa Kit)

Diphtheria is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheria and transmitted through respiratory droplets released when a patient sneezes or coughs. It can also be spread through contaminated personal items, or contaminated household items.

The bacterial infection affects the mucous membrane around the throat and the nose. As a result of the infections, the main symptoms of the infection include swollen glands, fever, sore throat, and general body weakness. Since these symptoms can indicate other diseases or infections, diphtheria’s prognosis is given by a sheet of thick gray matter that covers the back of the throat leading to breathing difficulties.

Testing

In most cases, the disease is tested using laboratory cultures from the back of the throat. However, the best testing procedure involves use of the Diphtheria IgG ELISA kit. The kit targets analytes in biological samples.

As a diagnostic assay for immunology and the infectious disease, the Diphtheria Toxoid IgG test kit employs the enzyme immunoassay principle.

Assay procedure

The Diphtheria toxoid antigen is usually bound on the microtiter strips surface and the diluted serum from the patient is pipetted onto the wells of the microtiter plates. Alternatively, ready-to-use standards may be pipetted onto the plates. As a result of the mixing, there is binding between the IgG antibodies of the serum and the immobilized antigen in the plates. This happens in the incubation process.

After the ELISA assay incubation, lasting about an hour, the plates are washed using the wash solution to remove and unbound components. After washing, an enzyme conjugate, the anti-human-IgG peroxidase is introduced and the components incubated for a few more minutes. The plates are washed and then the substrate is pipetted, and incubated to induce the development of the dye. A stop solution is added to stop the color development and the resultant dye measured.

A spectrophotometer is used to take the dye’s intensity readings at 450nm and the concentration of diphtheria antibodies is determined. The concentration of the antibodies is directly proportional to the color’s intensity.

Treatment

In most cases, it is advisable to get treatment immediately the symptoms are recognized because the disease can be fatal with the CDC estimating at least one death in every 10 people. The two common treatment strategies include use of antibiotics to kill the bacteria or use of the diphtheria antitoxin that stops the poison from the bacteria from killing the patient.

Prevention

Fortunately, diphtheria is preventable using vaccinations. There are vaccines for diphtheria given to children when they are born, reducing the risk of transmission of the disease. The vaccines are given to children below the age of seven and the vaccines offer protection from whooping cough and tetanus.

Persons exposed to diphtheria should seek immediate treatment and even when vaccinated, it is important to be seen by a medical officer or practitioner who may give a booster to protect you from getting sick.

In conclusion, detection of the toxoid IgG protein in the patient’s serum is required for full immunity to be provided. The best test kits available ensure that primary and secondary antibodies are caught in time.

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