Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis Vaccine

The vaccine also known as DTP or triple bacterial protects against diseases caused by bacteria that cause diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough. Diphtheria is a disease caused by the bacteria Corynebacterium diphtheriae which leads to acute pharyngeal infection and can complicate with cardiac and neurological conditions if the diphtheria toxin has been released. Tetanus is caused by the bacteria Clostridium tetani which reproduces in the absence of oxygen and produces a toxin that can generate neonatal tetanus, contamination of the newborn’s umbilical stump, and serious complications and death from contaminated wounds. Whooping cough, also known as long cough, is caused by Bordetella pertussis, which generates a prolonged cough picture in three stages: catarrhal phase, dry cough phase and convalescence phase. It is potentially serious in children under six months unvaccinated. DPT is an inactivated vaccine, composed of purified diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and inactivated suspension of Bordetella pertussis. It is administered intramuscularly and indicated for the vaccination of children under 7 years of age, having as a recommendation the basic scheme of three doses at 2, 4 and 6 months of age, and two booster doses, at 15 months and 4 years old. It is present in the Pentavalente vaccine (in SUS) with the cell Pertussis component; and with the acellular version in DPTa vaccines (present in the Reference Centers for Special Immunobiologicals - CRIE - from SUS), Hexavalent and Pentavalent inactivated (in the private health system).