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How Does Diphtheria Cause Death During The Holocaust

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How many people died during the Holocaust because of starvation and diseases that there was no cure for? Some of the most deadly diseases in concentration camps are Typhus, Diphtheria and Dysentery. Typhus, Dysentery, and Diphtheria were illnesses that passed through Nazi Camps, Ghetto and the Organ Trail was known for these diseases. Typhus is a disease that went through the concentration camps. The disease is spread by lice which is a bug that lives in hair usually on the head. (Auschwitz Voices pg.60) Most children were affected by the overcrowding which made it easier to catch typhus and they frequently died from it. Almost 30 percent of the population of Warsaw was packed into 2.4 percent of the city’s area which caused there to be enormous amounts of overcrowding which made it easier to contract diseases.(www.ushmm.Org) It can cause inflamed vessels, which in turn can cause a dramatic drop in blood pressure as well as internal bleeding. (www.share.com) Typhus, in particular was rampant and prisoners were marched out of the camps and into the ghetto for mass disinfections. Disinfection baths were established in certain areas like on Balonowa Street. (U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum) …show more content…

Some strains of the bacterium Corynebacterium produce a toxin, and it is the toxin that causes the most serious complications of Diphtheria. (www.medicalnewstoday.com) To determine the degree of reactions to diphtheria toxoid, studies were carried out on approximately 300 men each. (history.amedd.army.mil pg.170) Diphtheria is often associated with a sore throat, fever, and the development of an adherent membrane on the tonsils and/or nasopharynx. (medicinenet.com) This is a disease that most people are familiar with. Some famous people who are golden in our history had family who died from Diphtheria such as Eleanor Roosevelt’s mother who died of the infectious disease in 1892.

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