Diphtheria

9 questions · Health & Medicine

Diphtheria was once so feared that it was called the „strangling angel of children“. It is caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriae, which produces a powerful poison, the diphtheria toxin. The pathogen spreads through droplets when coughing and speaking. In the throat, grey-white, firmly attached coatings then form, the so-called pseudomembranes, which make the throat swell shut and, in the worst case, lead to suffocation. The toxin can also severely damage the heart and nerves. For centuries diphtheria carried off countless children. The turning point came at the end of the 19th century with the German doctor Emil von Behring, who developed a healing serum of antibodies and received the very first Nobel Prize for medicine for it. The dramatic „serum run“ to Nome in Alaska in 1925 became famous, in which dog-sled teams (led by the dog Balto) brought life-saving serum through the icy winter. Today diphtheria has almost vanished in many countries thanks to an effective vaccine, usually given together with tetanus and whooping cough. But where the vaccination rate falls, the old childhood disease promptly returns.

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5 of 9 questions with answers

Which bacterium did Friedrich Loeffler grow in 1884 as the cause of the 'strangling angel of children'?

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Corynebacterium diphtheriae

It produces a powerful poison, the toxin.

💡 Did you know? The toxin does the actual damage.

Which grim byname did diphtheria carry?

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Strangling angel of children

It made children's throats swell shut.

💡 Did you know? Many suffocated from it.

Which grey-white coatings form in the throat with diphtheria?

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Pseudomembranes

They stick firmly and narrow the airways.

💡 Did you know? Removing them can cause bleeding.

How is diphtheria transmitted?

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By droplets

Coughing and speaking release the pathogen into the air.

💡 Did you know? Close contact aids infection.

Who developed the life-saving serum against diphtheria?

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Emil von Behring

His serum contained protective antibodies.

💡 Did you know? He won the first Nobel Prize in medicine for it.

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