The Silent Epidemic: Diphtheria in 1880 Seattle
A harrowing, vivid account of the early stages of diphtheria, a 'perplexing theme' of illness that terrorized families and baffled medical practitioners in the Washington Territory.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
What is now known as diphtheria has been a perplexing theme ever since its first recognition as a distinct disease. Diphtheria generally prevails as an epidemic, in which form it often exists contemporaneously over considerable tracts of country, or it may occur in smaller groups, limited to particular neighborhoods, or even to particular houses. The disease is sometimes preceded, and usually accompanied, by fever. There is often stiffness of the neck at the commencement of an attack, and a usually more or less swelling and tenderness of the glands at the angles of the lower jaw. Sometimes the swelling and inflammation subside without further local mischief; at others, the inflamed surface presents from an early stage of the disease whitish specks or patches.
If the patches are small and remain distinct the case ordinarily runs a favorable course; if they rapidly spread and coalesce, if the membrane becomes thick, and especially if it assumes a brownish or blackish color, danger is imminent. The sufferer tears his neck with his nails and tries to open his mouth; yet full power of swallowing still continues, and he greedily gulps anything given him in the shape of drink. Large livid spots form on the extremities. Muttering delirium comes on, and in a long tetanic convulsion death closes the scene. Thus, in six days or less, a previously strong and healthy man may cease to exist. Diphtheria is frequently attended with very slight constitutional disturbances at the commencement of the attack, even when the disease is destined to a fatal termination. If possible, the greatest care must also be taken during the period of fetid discharges, to separate the remaining children of a family from the diseased one, for at this stage, particularly, the disease is quite infectious.
“The sufferer tears his neck with his nails and tries to open his mouth; yet full power of swallowing still continues, and he greedily gulps anything given him in the shape of drink.”
While vaccines have largely relegated diphtheria to the pages of history, the 1880 language describing the 'perplexing' nature of the disease and the urgent need for isolation measures echoes our recent collective experience with pandemic public health, demonstrating how little the fundamental fear of contagious illness changes over a century.
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