Died of diphtheria

Please add Geni profiles associated with the disease diphtheria (known as "the Strangling Angel") to this project; not only those who died of it, but those who worked for the cure.

Diphtheria (dif-THEER-e-uh) is a serious bacterial infection usually affecting the mucous membranes of your nose and throat. Diphtheria typically causes a sore throat, fever, swollen glands and weakness. But the hallmark sign is a sheet of thick, gray material covering the back of your throat, which can block your airway, causing you to struggle for breath. Diphtheria is usually spread between people by direct contact or through the air. It may also be spread by contaminated objects. Some people carry the bacterium without having symptoms, but can still spread the disease to others

Diphtheria is extremely rare in the United States and other developed countries, thanks to widespread vaccination against the disease.

Medications are available to treat diphtheria. However, in advanced stages, diphtheria can damage your heart, kidneys and nervous system. Even with treatment, diphtheria can be deadly — up to 3 percent of people who get diphtheria die of it. The rate is higher for children under 15.

From CDC - Diphtheria and the Alaskan Iditarod

Years ago, diphtheria wiped out entire communities, sometimes killing all the children in a family. This is the story of a famous event that galvanized people in the United States to begin to use diphtheria vaccine—which has virtually wiped out the once dreaded disease in this country.

A Deadly Outbreak

In the winter of 1925, a lone physician and four nurses in Nome, Alaska faced a crisis too terrible to imagine—an outbreak of diphtheria that could kill most of the region's population of about 10,000 people.

Diphtheria is a highly contagious upper respiratory tract illness caused by the toxin-producing bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriea. The disease can be treated with an antitoxin or prevented by vaccines. However, before these medicines were available, diphtheria was commonly known as the “strangling angel of children.” Diphtheria causes the throat to become blocked with a thick, leathery coating that makes breathing very difficult. Without treatment, death by suffocation is very likely, especially for young children.

In December 1924, Nome doctor Curtis Welch watched as an outbreak started—with cases first thought to be simple sore throats or tonsillitis. In January 1925, when 2 children died of diphtheria, the impending crisis became clear. Dr. Welch ordered a quarantine, but diphtheria is so contagious that many people were likely already exposed and he knew more cases would appear.

Help from Miles Away

Normally, Dr. Welch would have treated infected people with diphtheria antitoxin to fight off the effects of the poison that diphtheria releases into the body. But the town’s supply of antitoxin was not enough and it had expired. Not knowing if the expired antitoxin would work or if it might actually cause harm, Dr. Welch hesitated to use it. To save lives, fresh diphtheria antitoxin was the only hope. On January 22, 1925, Dr. Welch sent dozens of telegrams pleading for help to find and deliver antitoxin. National leaders in Washington, D.C., helped to locate the closest large supply of diphtheria antitoxin—it was in Anchorage, hundreds of miles away.

The next problem was figuring out the fastest way get the antitoxin to Nome. There were no roads or railways to Nome, air service was unavailable, and ships could not reach the town because of sea ice around Nome. The only way in was overland via the Iditarod Trail, also known as the Seward-to-Nome Mail Trail. This crisis made newspaper and radio headlines across America.

To the Rescue

Norwegian immigrant Gunnar Kaasen was the musher on the dog team that successfully delivered diphtheria antitoxin to Nome, Alaska in 1925.

After weighing all possible solutions, Alaska’s Territorial Governor Scott Bone approved a relay of the 20 best mail carrier mushers (sled dog drivers) and 150 dogs along the 674-mile Nenana-to-Nome Trail, a trip that usually took 15 to 20 days.

On January 27, one of the story’s heroes, “Wild” Bill Shannon, picked up the package of antitoxin at the nearest station that could be reached by train and began the journey. Teams of mushers traveled day and night, enduring blizzards and temperatures of 50 degrees below zero, handing off the package to fresh teams. Leonhard Seppala’s team with lead dog, Togo, covered 91 miles —the most dangerous part of the relay — and Gunner Kaasen’s team and lead dog, Balto, finished the lifesaving race, reaching Nome on February 2.

This Great Race of Mercy was completed in a record 5 days and 7 hours.

Just two weeks later, after the diphtheria antitoxin was given to the infected children, the quarantine was lifted. At least five children died during the outbreak. However, the collective efforts of hundreds of people to deliver the diphtheria antitoxin prevented the deaths of many other children in Nome and the surrounding area.

notables

From Wikipedia - Deaths from diphtheria

resources & additional reading

• Medscape
• "on the treatment of Diptheria" (1735)
• History of Diptheria
• Wikipedia - Diphtheria
• Mayo Clinic - Diphtheria

  ---

jump back to Cause of death portal

this project is in HistoryLink