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I was given a Science worksheet for homework yesterday and it was all about Diptheria. I was pretty disappointed that the outbreak in Nome wasn't mentioned but then again, it was all about the UK.

Anyway, it seems that between 1900 and 1930 the death rate of children in the UK actually went up. This would have been around the same time that the children of Nome got sick too. Weird, eh?

Hm, I never knew that. Do you have any more details?

Yes, well, they didn't get vaccinations agaisnt it in those days so more people got it. It is dissapointing that they didn't mention the Serum Run. We were doing viruses in Science here as well and they didn't mention anything about Nome, 1925, the terrible epidemic. Very dissapointing indeed. Well, I am glad we get vaccianations agaist Diptheria, not many people get it anymore thank goodness.

I understand what you're saying. In books, whenever they talk about the Flu, they mention the worldwide 1918 epidemic.

You know what's even stranger? My school uses Balto, Kolyma, Togo and Polaris as our houses. (By houses I mean like in Harry Potter, Griffindor, Hufflepuff ect..) I'm in Polaris.

Anyways, what I was saying was that we use these dogs as our house titles but, no and I really mean no one, knows anything about them. I think I'm the only one who bothered to read about them. Every other moron in my school thinks the principle made the names up and just picked a colour for each house.

Very odd eh? We've also not even talked about it in any of our classes. What a wacked up high school..*sigh*

Au contrar...Diphtheria is a bacteria, not a virus. (i.e. To kill bacteriae, you use antitoxin. To kill viruses, you use vaccines)

Apparently the first antitoxin for Diphtheria was made sometime around 1890, but hardly anyone was aware of its lethalness at the time. That's why it had to wait 30 more years of development before they could use it in the 1925 serum run.

I'm sure you all know that this disease is dangerous to kids under 16 and lethal to kids under 10. A kid is most at risk in his early years due to the low amount of bodily immunization. That is, it's easier for bacteria to get inside every opening of your body -- eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. However, the first stages of growth occurs when the bacteria gets to your throat and coagulates there, thus creating a thick slimey membrane that can restrict air intake. The throat then becomes swollen, and eventually, your own saliva will be turned into a goo that will cover up your entire larynx, rendering you unable to speak or breathe.

If you still haven't died yet, and haven't received the antitoxin, the sickness will then spread to your heart, lungs, and kidnies before finally shutting down your nervous system.

...Nothing serious. ^^

Don't worry, Diphtheria is less likely to strike twice, and with the major developments in technology and medicine, cases of this disease is getting rarer by the minute.

Ooo, smarty-pants XD
Just kiddin' You really do know your Diptheria Suka! Nice post, nice and long full of information! Just what we want to see in this section!

Not really, like they already said, there was a bad case of it in Britain. Disease doesn't thrive in colder climates, just the same as any. Why Nome got a bad case, because it is a remote town in the corner of Alaska with a lot of people prone to getting the disease because it is such a small place and people are so close together. It spread quickly in this enviroment and Serum was far off. People actually died in the true story, but Balto did save the town from many more deaths You see, Dipthheria didn't hit Nome because of its climate, because it was a small community in the middle of knowhere really.

Thankies mucho!! You guys aren't the ONLY ones that had to study this before...this is actually just basic knowledge about Diphtheria.

And....climate has nothing to do with how disease spreads. Diphtheria may be airborne, but in order to get it, one must have close contact with another person that does.

wolfgurly666 >> That's fine



Actually, all I know about Diptheria is from Balto, I never even heard of the disease before I saw the movie. Thats not really that good I know, most likely because its rare nowadays.
Thanks for backing up my climate theory too

I haerd about diptheria in class a long time ago

the pictures of it are discusting. DONT look at them.

Well that is very wierd. Interesting fact!