Incidence of non-toxigenic corynebacteria diphtheria in British military personnel in Germany

Emergence of Related Nontoxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae Biotype mitis Strains in Western Europe

“…Nontoxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae strains were recovered from approximately 1 per 1,000 throat swabs from immunized British military personnel in Germany from 1993 to 1995 (1). Such nontoxigenic C. diphtheriae biotype mitis isolates had been described in skin, throat, and blood cultures of Swiss injecting drug users; 32 of the isolates belonged to the same clone (2,3).…”

Persistence of Nontoxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae Biotype Gravis Strains in Pondicherry, Southern India

“…Groman et al (4) showed previously that nontoxigenic strains can carry DNA sequences for the tox gene, whereby such positive PCR cases were generally a consequence of amplification of DNA sequences that are part of a mutated or partial, and therefore nonfunctional, tox gene. Data from our study and other studies indicate that tox-bearing, nontoxigenic C. diphtheriae strains are rarely isolated from human clinical specimens (4,6,9).…”

“…Among the total number of cases reported worldwide during the year 2005, 80% of cases were from India (1). Diseases due to nontoxigenic C. diphtheriae strains in vaccinated individuals are now being increasingly reported globally (2,9). However, their incidence is very rare in India, as only one instance of nontoxigenic strains causing diphtheria has been documented earlier, from Pondicherry, India (6).…”