Diphtheria

The early autumn of 1920 saw an outbreak of diphtheria in Hobart. At that time, treatment relied mainly on an antitoxin, developed in the 1890s, to neutralize the effects of the toxin secreted by the diphtheria bacteria; but with effective and widespread vaccination still a few years in the future, and no antibiotics to treat the main infection, the only way to fight the spread of the disease was quarantine. Among the first houses to be quarantined was the Springman home on Lake Street, where the widowed Hattie lived with three sons between 12 and 20 years of age.

Diphtheria was particularly dangerous for young children. The mortality rate for patients under five years of age was about 20%, and for those five years or older, 5-10%.* The first fatality in this outbreak seems to have been Leslie Carlson, the five-year-old son of Albert and Hannah Carlson of Michigan Avenue, who died October 23.

By early November the disease was in Joryville. Eugene Hill, 50 years old, was infected and his house quarantined, as was the home of James and Hulda Shearer, whose only child, the 10-year-old Clara, was sick. Nearby in the Frank and Christina Popp home, an (unnamed) young daughter had caught the same disease. By the time the this report came out, Eugene was already on the mend; Clara would pull through, as would the Popp girl. But on Fleming Street, diphtheria took the life of three-year-old Theresia Peas.

On November 18, the News declared: "The diphtheria epidemic is well under control. All suspicious symptoms are treated with rigid care. … No new cases are reported." As you might expect, the next week brought another reported quarantine — the home of Melvin and Marian Parker, though it isn't clear how many were sick in that household, which included four children under 11, and Melvin's 70-year-old father.

After that, however, diphtheria faded from the news for what remained of 1920.

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On a related note, for a good read I recommend The Cruelest Miles by Gay Salisbury and Laney Salisbury (2003). It centers on a diphtheria epidemic that broke out in Nome, Alaska, in the winter of 1925. The city was unreachable by boat or airplane; the only way to transport fresh antitoxin from Seward, 1000 miles away, was by dogsled. The Cruelest Miles tells the story of that life-and-death dogsled race.


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*The mortality rate for adults over 40 was 20%, but more of the adult population could be expected to have the immunity that usually resulted from surviving a childhood infection.


Sources:
♦ "Diphtheria." History of Vaccines. College of Physicians of Philadelphia, n.d. http://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/diphtheria. Accessed 28 Aug. 2013.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 11 Nov. 1920; 18 Nov. 1920.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 15 Oct. 1920; 29 Oct. 1920; 12 Nov. 1920; 26 Nov. 1920.
♦ Steven, Doerr, MD. "Medical Dictionary." EMedicineHealth. WebMD, Inc., n.d. http://www.emedicinehealth.com/diphtheria/article_em.htm. Accessed 28 Aug. 2013.