Diphtheria

“War-making metaphors also contribute to the stigmatization of illness and disease. . . . now the rhetoric of the campaign cast blame upon parents and physicians for the disease. The very presence of diphtheria became a synonym for neglect. . . . The use of military metaphors in the control of disease also constructs enemies, and in this case the two primary ones were the disease itself and uncooperative physicians. Parents were a secondary enemy” (Hammonds, 206).