Is there any means by which persons who have had diphtheria and still harbor the germs in their throats may be cured so that they will not be a menace to those with whom they associate?

Diphtheria Carriers

Q. Is there any means by which persons who have had diphtheria and still harbor the germs in their throats may be cured so that they will not be a menace to those with whom they associate?

A. Yes; a simple remedy has recently been suggested. Lactic acid forming germs are an­tagonistic to all forms of disease producing germs outside the body as well as in the body.

Moffit suggests the use of fresh buttermilk as a gargle in patients who have had diphtheria but in whose throats cultures of the diphtheria bacillus were present after all other manifesta­tions of the disease had disappeared, The plain buttermilk was used five or six times a day and from his experience with nine cases, Moffit be­lieved that the diphtheria organisms will be dis­placed entirely within three days, while pure cul­tures of the lactic acid bacillus will be found on the swab.

This is in harmony with a suggestion recently made to use cultures of the bacillus bulgaricus for the same purpose. Swabbing the throat (or gargling) two or three times daily with a good liquid culture of this organism is sufficient to render the throat free from dangerous or­ganisms and to facilitate the releasing of the patient from quarantine. It was also suggested that this same procedure might be equally useful in diphtheria.