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Persons using assistive technology might not be able to fully access information in this file. For assistance, please send e-mail to: mmwrq@cdc.gov. Type 508 Accommodation and the title of the report in the subject line of e-mail. Notice to Readers Availability of Diphtheria Antitoxin Through an Investigational New Drug ProtocolAlthough diphtheria is a rare disease in the United States, access to diphtheria antitoxin (DAT) is essential to ensure effective treatment of a case. The previously available supply of U.S.-licensed DAT (Diphtheria Antitoxin, Equine, Connaught Laboratories, Inc., Swiftwater, Pennsylvania) had an expiration date of January 6, 1997, and should no longer be used. No manufacturer has announced an intention to license a DAT product in the United States. A DAT product (i.e., Diphtheria Antitoxin, Pasteur Merieux, Lyon, France), licensed in Europe and similar to the previously licensed U.S. product, is now available in the United States through an Investigational New Drug (IND) protocol through CDC. This protocol is designed to enable the emergency treatment of patients with suspected diphtheria. Decisions to dispense DAT from U.S. Public Health Service quarantine stations will be made by medical epidemiology staff of CDC's Child Vaccine Preventable Disease Branch, Epidemiology and Surveillance Division, National Immunization Program, in discussion with the treating physician. Physicians treating a case of suspected diphtheria can contact the diphtheria duty officer, telephone (404) 639-8255, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. eastern time, or (404) 639-2889, all other times. All suspected diphtheria cases should also be reported to local and state health departments. Disclaimer All MMWR HTML versions of articles are electronic conversions from ASCII text into HTML. This conversion may have resulted in character translation or format errors in the HTML version. Users should not rely on this HTML document, but are referred to the electronic PDF version and/or the original MMWR paper copy for the official text, figures, and tables. An original paper copy of this issue can be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, DC 20402-9371; telephone: (202) 512-1800. Contact GPO for current prices. **Questions or messages regarding errors in formatting should be addressed to mmwrq@cdc.gov.Page converted: 09/19/98 |
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This page last reviewed 5/2/01
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