THE CONQUEST OF DISEASE 



cent.; among those receiving it on the second 

 day of the disease the mortality was 2.8 per 

 cent. ; among those receiving it on the third day 

 the mortality was 4.6 per cent, and on the 

 fourth, fifth, and sixth days it was 15, 19, 

 and 18 per cent, respectively. This shows 

 that it has been possible to reduce the mor- 

 tality in diphtheria from 36 per cent, to 1.5 

 per cent, if antitoxin is injected early in the 

 disease. 



In New York City there have been 100,000 

 cases of diphtheria during the last eleven years. 

 There are 27,000 children living in that city 

 to-day who without the use of diphtheria anti- 

 toxin would have died during that time. 3000 

 children annually in that city are being saved 

 as the result of the new knowledge of diphthe- 

 ria. These figures are practically identical 

 with the diphtheria statistics of London, Ber- 

 lin, Paris, Liverpool and other large cities. 

 How has this been accomplished? First by 

 the discovery of the bacillus of diphtheria by 

 Klebs and Loeffler, which has made possible 

 the diagnosis of diphtheria; and second by the 

 discoveries of Roux, Behring and Kitasato 

 that, the injection of the sterile blood serum of 

 an animal that has been rendered immune to 



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