[Minor diphtheria epidemic in a Cologne children's home (author's transl)]

Between May and July 1972, 12 children aged from 7 to 14 were admitted to the Cologne University Children's Hospital suspected of having diphtheria. In 10 cases the tonsils or pharyngeal cavity were affected. One case of wound diphtheria and one of nasal diphtheria were observed. The clinical suspicion was confirmed in 8 of 12 cases by detection of the pathogen Coryne-bacterium diphtheroides mitis. 11 patients were discharged from the hospital after being treated for between 2 to 6 weeks, but 5 of them needed ambulant cardiac observation. One patient died of malignant diphtheria with symptoms of cardiovascular failure. He had not been treated specifically for 1 week at first. Not one of the 12 patients had been satisfactorily immunized by active inoculation with diphtheria toxoid.