DTP

DTP stands for diphtheria, tetanus and polio.

Diphtheria

Diphtheria is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriae. You can get it from people who carry the bacterium in their throat or on their skin, through coughing or wound fluid.

The bacterium produces toxins that swell the throat and make breathing difficult. If the toxins enter the blood, they can inflame the heart and you can die. A skin infection is less serious.

Tetanus

Tetanus is an infectious disease caused by Clostridium tetani. The bacterium lives in soil and dirt. It enters through a wound or mucous membranes. You cannot infect other people.

If the bacterium enters a wound, toxins can cause muscle cramps throughout the body. Cramps in the breathing muscles can be fatal.

Polio

Polio (infantile paralysis) is caused by poliovirus. You can get it from other people, via faeces or through food and drink contaminated with faeces.

There are usually no symptoms. Sometimes you feel flu-like. A small share of infections cause temporary paralysis, usually in the legs, sometimes in the breathing muscles. Rarely the paralysis is permanent: in about one in two hundred people who get polio.

Almost everyone born in the Netherlands after 1950 was vaccinated as a child. If your last vaccination was more than ten years ago, get a DTP booster. Ask a travel clinic for advice.