The bacteriology of diphtheria, including sections on the history, epidemiology and pathology of the disease, the mortality caused by it, the toxins and antitoxins and the serum disease / by F. Loeffler et al. Edited by G.H.F. Nuttall and G.S. Graham-Smith.

  • Loeffler, Friedrich August Johannes, 1852-
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The bacteriology of diphtheria, including sections on the history, epidemiology and pathology of the disease, the mortality caused by it, the toxins and antitoxins and the serum disease / by F. Loeffler et al. Edited by G.H.F. Nuttall and G.S. Graham-Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

    10/786
    disease in Avhich bacteriological methods are most commonly employed, not only in diagnosis but also in prevention and treatment. The various chapters deal with the events which led up to the discovery of the diphtheria bacillus; the epidemiology and pathology of the disease; the morphological, cultural and pathogenic character- istics of the diphtheria bacillus and the organisms which resemble it, and their relationship to one another; the distribution of the diphtheria bacillus and organisms resembling it in men and animals; the occurrence of diphtheria and diseases simulating it in man and animals, and the relationship of the latter to diphtheria; the modes of infection and the methods of prevention; the practical and theoretical considerations involved in the manufacture of toxins and antitoxins and the results of antitoxin treatment. Well-established facts have been described as briefly as possible, but where differences of opinion exist the views of both sides have been stated at length, and in all cases references are quoted for the statements which are made. Though it is hoped that the reader will seldom find it necessary to refer to the original papers, a very full bibliography has been given at the end of the volume. Except in regard to the characters of the membranes produced by the diphtheria bacillus and certain other organisms, the lesions due to injections of antitoxic sera (serum-sickness), and the occurrence of atypical forms of the disease, whose recognition is of importance in checking outbreaks, the clinical manifestations have not been discussed, as these are adequately dealt with in works on medicine. The work is divided into six Sections, contributed by authors who have given special attention to the subjects discussed in each, and who are responsible for the opinions expressed. We believe that the brief biographical notes accompanied by portraits of Bretonneau, who distinguished diphtheria as a specific affection and gave the disease its name, of Loeffler, who discovered the specific bacillus, of von Behring, who discovered the specific remedy, and of Roux, who practically applied the remedy to the cure of the disease in man, will be welcomed by many readers. We desire to express our sincere thanks to Prof Wesbrook for permission to reproduce plates VII and VIII (from Trans. Amer. Pub. Health Assoc. xxv. 1899), to Dr Denny for plate IX (from Journ. of Med. Research, ix. 1903), to Dr Hill for plate X (from Annual Rejyort of die Boston Board of Health, 1901), to Prof Abbott for plate XIII