"Diphtheria, once known as the 'strangling angel,' was a leading killer of children into the early 20th century. The bacterial infection destroys the lining of the throat, forming a layer of dead, leathery tissue that can cause death by suffocation..."
"Today, diphtheria has been so thoroughly forgotten that someone like me, born some 60 years after the invention of a diphtheria vaccine, might have no inkling of the fear it once inspired."
"For most of human history, half of all children died before reaching age 15; that number is down to just 4 percent worldwide... vaccines one of the major drivers of improved life expectancy."
"As a child, the vaccine scientist Stanley Plotkin, now 92, told me, 'I had several infectious diseases that almost killed me.' He ticked them off: pertussis, influenza, pneumococcal pneumonia-all of which children today are routinely vaccinated against."
Collection
[
|
...
]