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It was given its name by a french physician Pierre Bretonneau. He called it diphtérite. Its greek meaning was leather, which he refered to the leather like coating in the throat
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Edwin Klebs was a Swiss/German pathologist who indentified the bacterium thats known to cause diphtheria, first known as Klebs-Loeffler bacterium.
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Friedrich Loeffler was the first to cultivate Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Later he shows that it produces a toxin. This toxin injures and destroys the cells
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Shibasaburo Kitasato Emil von Behring showed that the blood products of the guinea pigs contained a substance that prevented the harmful effects of C. diphtheriae and its toxin when the guinea pigs were re-exposed to lethal doses of the bacteria and toxin. http://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/timelines/diphtheria
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Kitasato and von Behring found that you could cure an animal with diphtheria by injecting it with the serum of an immunized animal. http://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/timelines/diphtheria
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Two phsicians successfully treated a two year old girl with diphtheria antitoxin.
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Mulford Company of Philadelphia began to produce and test diphtheria antitoxin in the United States. So did the New York health department.
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In 1901 13 children died in St Louis because of an antitoxin contamination. The horse used for the antitoxin died of tetnus and the antitoxin was still sent out to be used.
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he U.S. Congress passed "An act to regulate the sale of viruses, serums, toxins, and analogous products because of the contamination events that happened in St Louis. http://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/timelines/diphtheria
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Bela Schick developed a test to see if a person is immune to diphtheria. He injected a small amount of toxin under the skin. If no immunity the site would get red and swell. If immune the site would remain normal.
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An outbreak in diphtheria in Alaska led to the famous Nenana-to-Nome dog sled run of antitoxin to treat the sick children. The antitoxin reached Nome on February 2, when Welch quickly used it to treat the many sick children in his hospital. He reported that five children had died, but thought the toll might have been higher because many native Alaskans might not have reported deaths. The movie Balto is based off this event. http://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/timelines/diphtheria
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The first vaccine of DTP became available in the US. It treated diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis.
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The WHO included DTP on its list of vaccines recommended for developing countries
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There was an outbreak of Cutaneous Diphtheria in Seattle, WA. This is an inflection of the skin. The flesh looks like it is rotting away
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There has been no cases in the US for five years
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