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Diphtheria — DTM&H MCQ

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ModerateTropical bacterial infectionsDiphtheriaDTM&H

A 7-year-old unimmunised child in a displaced-person camp has fever, sore throat and a grey adherent pharyngeal membrane. Several contacts are coughing. What is the most appropriate treatment?

Educational content. Not a substitute for clinical judgement or local policy.

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Correct answer: D — Give antitoxin, antibiotics and isolate with contact prophylaxis

Give antitoxin, antibiotics and isolate with contact prophylaxis is the single best answer because suspected respiratory diphtheria requires urgent antitoxin, antibiotics, isolation and contact management. Delay action until culture result is plausible in a related presentation, but it is less appropriate because it does not fit the key discriminator in this vignette. The teaching point is that laboratory confirmation should not delay public health action.

Reference: Manson's Tropical Diseases; WHO/UKHSA infectious diseases guidance; BNF