CAUSE  Diphtheria is caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheria. It was named by a French physician named Pierre Bretonneau. The name means a leathery, sheath-like membrane that grows on the tonsils, throat, and in the nose. Diphtheria was once a dreaded disease with no cure. Between 1735 and 1740, 80% of children age ten were killed because of this disease.

SPREAD Symptoms can be fatigue, fever, sore throat, and problems swallowing. Ten percent of people who get diphtheria have swelling of the neck. Children have symptoms such as vomiting, chills, and fever, although most symptoms to not occur until much later. Anyone can catch a case of Diphtheria, but it is usually the unimmunized children that catch it, and winter is also the usual time people will get a case of this deadly germ. Diphtheria can be treated, but the reason so many people die from it is because they cannot afford treatments. Adults also die from it because there is no cure for them.

PREVENTION The Diphtheria vaccine is available, and most children now take it when they are very young. The vaccine is called the DPT vaccine-which stands for Diphtheria Pertussis Tetanus. If you take the vaccine, you have a lower risk of catching these disease.

TREATMENT Patients with severe cases are put in the Intensive care unit in the hospital. Usually, antibiotics are used to cure Diphtheria.  Diphtheria occurs in the winter most of the time. In the year 2000, 30,000 cases of this disease and 3,000 deaths were reported worldwide. Diphtheria produces a toxin that can completely paralyze or harm human body tissues/organs. Sometimes, a case of Diphtheria will affect the throat, or even the tonsils.