Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 69, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1916 — DIPHTHERIA AND ANTITOXIN [ARTICLE]

DIPHTHERIA AND ANTITOXIN

A diphtheria epidemic is not so grave a menace now as it was in the days before the discovery of antitoxin, but there is need for great care to prevent its spread. For over a week the board of health has daily called the attention of the public to a diphtheria epidemic in virulent form. The disease is ordinarily confined to children, but a large percentage of adults are now victims. Health board warnings emphasize the importance of prompt action in having a diagnosis of suspicious symptoms, and the speedy administration of antitoxin if diphtheria is found to exist. Dr. Morgan of the board of health says that a small dose given in the first twenty-four hours is equal to ten times the amount given at the end of four or five days. Symptoms of diphtheria are sore throat, coughing, chills and vomiting. The presence of any or all of these symptoms may indicate nothing more serious than a cold, but diagnosis by a physician is the only safe course. There are now many cases of nasal infection, however, and a culture taken from the throat may not show the presence of diphtheria. —Diphtheria-patients should be isolated wherever possible. There is believed to be spread sometimes by contaminated milk, and insanitary conditions are thought to add to the violence of epidemics, although the old theory that the becilli is derived from defective drains or “sewer gas” has generally been abandoned.

The cause and nature of diphtheria have been ascertained and a cure has been found. Antitoxin is the discovery of the Berlin school of bacteriologists, particularly Dr. Behring, and of other scientists who worked independently in France and Germany. Its use became general after 1894 when experiments on a large scale confirmed its value. In London hospitals, where accurate records are kept, the mortality has been reduced from 46.8 in 1892 and 58.8 per cent in 1893 to 3.6 since the introduction of antitoxin.

Besides being the first Democrat to be elected governor of Utah, Simon Bamberger, the successful gubernatorial candidate at the recent elections, is also the first nonMormon to head the government of that state. Utah was one of the “surprise states” of the election. A stronghold of the Republican forces in all previous elections, the state this year reversed itself and. went Democratic from President all the way down to the smallest county office.