when was diphtheria discovered
Dr. Emile Roux (French), discoverer of diphtheria antitoxin in 1894. In the 1920s there were an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 cases of diphtheria per year in the United States, causing 13,000 to 15,000 deaths per year. Children represented a large majority of these cases and fatalities. One of the first effective treatments for diphtheria was discovered in the 1880s by U.S. physician Joseph OâDwyer (1841-1898).