CHAPTER XII 



DIPHTHERIA AND TETANUS 



Diphtheria 



P\IPHTHERIA is a disease most frequent 

 1 J in children, in which a membrane is 

 apt to form in the air passages, which may 

 make breathing difficult or impossible. There 

 are also symptoms of serious general disorder, 

 as if the body were profoundly poisoned. 



The disease is incited always by a pecul- 

 iar, often club shaped bacterium called the 

 Bacillus diphtherias (Fig. 13). It is killed by 

 boiling for a minute or by disinfectants, but 

 may live for months in the air. This bacillus 

 is present in enormous numbers in the mem- 

 brane, and sometimes gains entrance to the 

 body. But the chief damage to the victim 

 of diphtheria is a powerful poison which the 



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