RT Journal
T1 THe diphtheria problem
JF Journal of the American Medical Association
JO Journal of the American Medical Association
YR 1918
FD September 7
VO 71
IS 10
SP 827
OP 828
DO 10.1001/jama.1918.02600360043013
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1918.02600360043013
AB Despite the fact that diphtheria antitoxin has proved to be a therapeutic remedy of great importance in the management of a disease which was among the first to derive curative benefits from modern immunologic investigations, the presence of diphtheria among us still presents a serious hygienic problem. In spite of the extensive use of small prophylactic doses of antitoxin, the morbidity and mortality from diphtheria remain surprisingly high and constant. The carrier problem has not been solved. An estimate based on figures obtained a few years ago from the registration area in the United States indicates that the yearly mortality from diphtheria in this country is more than 23,000, the morbidity presumably being ten times greater. Hence we can only reecho the need which Captain Zingher of the New York Department of Health has voiced for a practical and efficient method of active immunization that will protect the child and