Diphtheria (Corynebacterium Diphtheriae)

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

Corynebacterium diphtheriae traces closely the development of
medical microbiology, immunology and molecular biology. Many contributions to
these fields, as well as to our understanding of host-bacterial interactions,
have been made studying diphtheria and the diphtheria toxin.

Hippocrates provided the first clinical description of diphtheria in the 4th
century B.C. There are also references to the disease in ancient Syria and Egypt.


In the 17th century, murderous epidemics of diphtheria swept Europe; in Spain
"El garatillo" (the strangler"), in Italy and Sicily, "the gullet disease".

In the 18th century, the disease reached the American colonies and reached
epidemic proportions in 1735. Often, whole families died of the disease in a few
weeks.

The bacterium that caused diphtheria was first described by Klebs in 1883, and
was cultivated by Loeffler in 1884, who applied Koch's postulates and properly
identified Corynebacterium diphtheriae as the agent of the disease.

In 1884, ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

the
antitoxin mixture was horse serum, the components of which tended to be
allergenic and to sensitize individuals to the serum.

In 1913, Schick designed a skin test as a means of determining susceptibility or
immunity to diphtheria in humans. Diphtheria toxin will cause an inflammatory
reaction when very small amounts are injected intracutaneously. The Schick Test
involves injecting a very small dose of the toxin under the skin of the forearm
and evaluating the injection site after 48 hours. A positive test (inflammatory
reaction) indicates susceptibility (nonimmunity). A negative test (no reaction)
indicates immunity (antibody neutralizes toxin).

In 1929, Ramon demonstrated the ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library. Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports, and research papers in 2 minutes or less.

CITE THIS PAGE: