The Administrative Control of Diphtheria

Abstract

UP till recent times our methods of controlling the spread of diphtheria were guided by the principle of locking the stable door after the horse had been stolen. Notification of the disease, removal to hospital, with subsequent disinfection of the house, clothing and bedding was the routine. When throat swabbing became more general, we felt that we had made a further advance in eliminating possible spreaders of the disease. Still further progress was expected by the administration of preventive doses of antitoxin among immediate contacts, though the practice never became very general in this country. Actual experience has always proved the elusiveness of the " carrier " in diphtheria. In fact it may be said, at the outset of this contribution,