diphtherian.
/dɪfˈθɪərɪə/, /dɪpˈθɪərɪə/, U.S. /dɪfˈθɪriə/, /dɪpˈθɪriə/ 1. Medicine. An infectious disease that is characterized by severe inflammation of mucous membranes, esp. of the throat but often also of the nose, larynx, trachea, and bronchi, with formation of a thick layer of exudate sometimes causing obstruction to breathing, and which is caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Also: infection of other sites, esp. the skin, by this bacterium. Corynebacterium diphtheriae produces a potent toxin which in addition to causing local effects on mucous membranes or skin also may be disseminated via the blood and damage the heart, nerves, and other tissues.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorders of throat > [noun] > diphtheria
diphtheritis1826
diphtheria1842
diphtheroid1861
milk-diphtheria1887
1842 4th Ann. Rep. Registrar-Gen. Births, Deaths, & Marriages Eng. App. 148 Diphtheria. Diphtheritis. This specific inflammation, with the exudation of coagulable lymph, is frequently called Angina membranacea, and ulcerated sore throat. There are neither true eschars nor ulcers.
1858 Sat. Rev. 6 11/2 To save us from cholera, typhus, and diphtheria.
1884 L. Playfair Speech in Parl. 18 Mar. Diphtheria..when first imported from France in 1855, we used to call the Boulogne sore throat.
1915 D. Fairbridge Torch Bearer 178 ‘It may be diphtheria,’ she said... ‘My cook..sent to say that her two children were ill with white sore throats.’
1948 L. E. H. Whitby Nurses' Handbk. Hygiene (ed. 8) iv. 96 Laryngeal diphtheria is most common in children of about three years of age, and is very often fatal.
1954 G. P. Gladstone & E. P. Abraham in H. W. Florey Lect. Gen. Pathol. xvii. 320 Toxoid-antitoxin floccules (T.A.F.) have proved an efficient immunising agent against diphtheria.
1969 Jrnl. Pediatrics 74 991/1 Cutaneous diphtheria is relatively common in tropical climates, where the skin has been regarded as a reservoir for other types of diphtheritic infection.
1996 L. Al-Hafidh et al. Europe: Rough Guide (ed. 3) ii. xxiii. 1047/2 Visitors to Russia are advised to get booster-shots for diphtheria, tetanus and polio.
2002 Daily Tel. 6 Nov. 2/4 Babies are currently given two multiple vaccines—the DTP-Hib jab against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and Haemophilus influenzae B, and the MMR jab.
2. Chiefly with distinguishing word. Any of several diseases of animals thought to resemble diphtheria; spec. (a) fowlpox in birds, esp. in a form affecting mainly the buccal mucosa; (b) severe necrotizing inflammation of the mouth and throat caused by the bacterium Fusobacterium necrophorum in calves.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of birds > [noun] > other disorders of birds
pipa1425
gout1486
rank1709
cholera1834
diphtheria1863
fowl pox1908
myelocytomatosis1933
ornithosis1939
puffinosis1948
angel wing1967
1863 Country Gentleman 9 Apr. 240/3 The disease was called diphtheria in Mr. Kelly's neighborhood, and he thinks that it first attacks the ewes.
1864 Amer. Agriculturist Apr. 106/2 (heading) Diphtheria in hens at the South.
1879 Vet. Jrnl. & Ann. Compar. Pathol. 8 425 Quite recently..an excellent Veterinary pathologist had published a remarkable account of an outbreak of Diphtheria in calves.
1888 Poultry Keeper Aug. 74/1 I have also seen chickens and pigeons which had been inoculated with diphtheritic membrane from a child's throat attacked with a disease which in all respects resemble what I regard as natural fowl diphtheria.
1909 F. P. Gay tr. J. Bordet Stud. Immunity xxx. 492 Nor does antidiphtheritic serum..have any effect as a preventive or cure in avian diphtheria.
1966 W. R. Cook in Vet. Rec. 19 Mar. 396/1 The morbid anatomy is of false membrane formation... The false membrane has a croupous, diphtheritic nature and I suggest that we refer to the disease as ‘Guttural Pouch Diphtheria’.
1983 Progress (Clearfield, Pa.) 3 Jan. 21/3 Many elk die of starvation or from diseases such as pneumonia and calf diphtheria.
2005 Wilson's Pract. Meat Inspection (ed. 7) xiv. 120 Calf diphtheria is a disease of young calves and is caused by Bacteroides necrophorus.
Compounds
General attributive.
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1859 Amer. Jrnl. Med. Sci. 37 237 Scarlatina has no real or necessary connection with the diphtheria epidemic.
1892 Daily News 21 Mar. 6/2 The diphtheria handbill which the sanitary authorities have published.
1948 L. E. H. Whitby Nurses' Handbk. Hygiene (ed. 8) iv. 99 To..discover..persons who have no natural immunity to diphtheria and to inject them with a suitable dose of modified diphtheria toxin known as toxoid.
1964 M. Hynes Med. Bacteriol. (ed. 8) xiii. 214 Commensal Corynebacteria rarely have metachromatic granules, which are therefore a valuable means of recognizing the diphtheria bacillus in a mixed growth.
2010 Guardian 20 Mar. (Guide to Pets) 60/3 Huskies became national heroes in the US in 1925, after 140 of them..relayed supplies of diphtheria antitoxin 674 miles across Alaska to the city of Nome in just five-and-a-half days.
Derivatives
diphˈtherian adj. now rare or disused resembling diphtheria; diphtheritic.In quot. 1891 figurative.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > disorders of throat > [adjective] > diphtheria
diphtheritic1826
diphtheric1827
diphtherial1858
diphtheroid1859
diphtherian1874
1874 G. F. Berkeley Fact against Fiction I. iv. 109 The ‘diphtherian’ affection, if it can be so called, is a nervous action in the throat, at times precluding the possibility to swallow.
1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 3 July 3/1 Sucking a tube to draw out the ‘diphtherian matter’ in his child's throat.
1891 G. Meredith One of our Conquerors I. xii. 228 The diphtherian whisper the commonalty hear of the commonalty.
1919 Critic & Guide Dec. 460 Diphtherian antitoxin is administered impartially to both boys and girls.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1842