In St. Louis, 13 children died of tetanus-contaminated diphtheria antitoxin
In 1901, diphtheria patients were routinely treated with antitoxin derived from the blood serum
of horses. After 13 children in St. Louis died of tetanus because of contaminated antitoxin, the U.S. Congress passed the 1902 Biologics Control Act, giving the government its first regulation of vaccine and
antitoxin production.
Tags:
Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Credit: Photo: Parke, Davis & Company, courtesy National Museum of American History.
