Progress of Diphtheria Prevention

The Types Mitis, Intermedius and Gravis of Corynebacterium Diphtheriae

“…In contrast to all this, it is undoubted that in Denmark there had been a steady decline in mortality from diphtheria for many years up till 1931 (5). The contrast with North America is still more striking, for not only has diphtheria been nearly obliterated in big cities like New York, Toronto and Montreal, (102,46,47,159) where comprehensive campaigns in prophylactic inoculation have been carried through successfully, but there has been a marked fall in the incidence of diphtheria throughout the country. Figures given in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 1938 p. 524, show that over the whole country there has been a drop in diphtheria mortality per 100,000 of population from figures which varied from 7 to 38 twenty-five years ago, to figures ranging from 0 to 6 in 1937 and that for a group of 88 cities with a total population approximating to 40,000,000 the rate had fallen from 10.84 in 1924 to 1.46 in 1937.…”