Named the cause of the largest outbreak of a dangerous disease in Europe in 70 years

An international group of scientists from the Pasteur Institute in collaboration with epidemiologists from Santé publique France has discovered a direct link between the unprecedented outbreak of diphtheria in Western Europe and the movement of refugees. This is the largest epidemic of this disease in the region over the past seven decades.

The results of the study, published in the prestigious scientific journal New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), reveal an alarming picture of the spread of this dangerous infection.

The large-scale study covered 10 European countries, where more than 360 cases of the disease were recorded. Statistics demonstrate striking facts: 96% of all patients are recently arrived migrants, predominantly young men with an average age of about 18 years.

A feature of the current outbreak is the atypical manifestation of the disease: in 77% of cases, diphtheria occurred in cutaneous form, which significantly differs from the classic picture of the disease with respiratory tract involvement. Nevertheless, about 15% of patients faced serious respiratory complications that pose a direct threat to life.

Genetic analysis of the Corynebacterium diphtheriae pathogen revealed a high degree of relatedness between strains in different patients. Notably, identical strains were found in migrants from different countries of origin, which refutes the hypothesis that the epidemic began in Afghanistan or Syria - countries from which the majority of patients arrived.

Scientists concluded that infection most likely occurred at common points along migration routes or refugee reception centers, where crowding and unsatisfactory sanitary and hygienic conditions create a favorable environment for the spread of infection.