DIPHTHERIA IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 
By Drs. Liborio Gomez, Amando M. Kapauan, and Catalino Gavino 
Diphtheria is not a frequent disease in the Philippine Islands, 
but it has been apparently on the increase in the last few years 
or else it is beginning to be more widely recognized. It was 
thought advisable, therefore, to give a brief description of the 
disease as it occurs in the Islands, based on data obtained 
from the records of the Philippine Health Service, the San 
Lazaro Hospital, the department of pathology of the University 
of the Philippines, the Bureau of Science, and from personal 
observations. 
INCIDENCE 
Practically all the data regarding the incidence of the disease 
are drawn from the Health Service statistics for the city of 
Manila, as the reports from the provinces are rather incomplete 
and unreliable. The following figures (Table 1), taken from 
the annual reports of the Director of the Philippine Health 
Service, cover the period from 1900 to 1918 and indicate cases 
and deaths that are either positive clinically only or positive 
clinically and bacteriologically. 
Table 1. — Diphtheria in Manila. 
[From reports of the Bureau of Health.] 
Fiscal year. 
Cases. 
Deaths. 
Fiscal year. 
Cases. 
Deaths. 
1900 _ 
1 
i 
1910 
28 
10 
1901 
0 
0 
1911 
25 
10 
1902 
4 
4 
1912 
49 
17 
1903 
2 
2 
1913 a 
1 
(?) 
1904 
4 
4 
1914 
38 
13 
1905 
7 
7 
1915 
59 
23 
1906 
8 
8 
1916 
114 
30 
1907 
15 
13 
1917 
79 
27 
1908 
18 
9 
1918 
45 
15 
1909 
7 
0 
Total - 
604 
199 
a Last six months of the year. 
The disease occurs sporadically, not any one district of Ma- 
nila being particularly affected. It does not seem to be very 
37 
