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diphtheria

(Encyclopedia)diphtheria dĭfthērˈēə [key], acute contagious disease caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae (Klebs-Loffler bacillus) bacteria that have been infected by a bacteriophage. It begins as a soreness o...

Schick test

(Encyclopedia)Schick test, diagnostic test designed to evaluate susceptibility to diphtheria. A small amount of diphtheria toxin is injected into the skin; the injection will produce an area of redness and swelling...

Bretonneau, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Bretonneau, Pierre pyĕr brətônōˈ [key], 1778–1862, French physician. He performed (1825) the first successful tracheotomy for laryngeal diphtheria, wrote a treatise (1826) distinguishing betwee...

Klebs, Edwin

(Encyclopedia)Klebs, Edwin klāps [key], 1834–1913, German-American pathologist, b. Prussia. He was an assistant of Rudolf Virchow and professor of pathology at Zürich (1872–92) and from 1896 at Rush Medical C...

Roux, Pierre Paul Émile

(Encyclopedia)Roux, Pierre Paul Émile ro͞o [key], 1853–1933, French physician and bacteriologist. He was a pupil of and coworker with Pasteur. In 1888 he and A. E. J. Yersin demonstrated that the diphtheria ba...

Löffler, Friedrich

(Encyclopedia)Löffler, Friedrich frēˈdrĭkh löfˈlər [key], 1852–1915, German bacteriologist. From 1888 he taught hygiene at the Univ. of Greifswald. Among his many contributions to bacteriology are his demo...

Behring, Emil Adolph von

(Encyclopedia)Behring, Emil Adolph von āˈmēl äˈdōlf fən bârˈĭng [key], 1854–1917, German physician. He worked with Kitasato at Koch's laboratory in Berlin and from 1895 was professor of hygiene at Marbu...

prophylaxis

(Encyclopedia)prophylaxis prōˌfĭlăkˈsĭs [key], measures designed to prevent the occurrence of disease or its dissemination. Some examples of prophylaxis are immunization against serious diseases such as small...

serum sickness

(Encyclopedia)serum sickness, hypersensitive response that occurs after injection of a large amount of foreign protein. The condition is named for the serum taken from horses or other animals immunized against a pa...

Kitasato, Shibasaburo

(Encyclopedia)Kitasato, Shibasaburo shĭbäˈsäbo͞orō kēˈtäsäˈtō [key], 1852–1931, Japanese physician. He worked with Robert Koch in Germany (1885–91), and with Emil Behring he studied the tetanus baci...

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