1901 diphtheria antitoxin contamination incident

In 1901, a bad thing happened. Some medicine that was supposed to help people who were sick got mixed up with germs that made them even sicker! The medicine was called diphtheria antitoxin, which is a fancy name for something that helps your body fight off a sickness called diphtheria.

What happened was that some of the diphtheria antitoxin was made in a place where there were germs floating around in the air. These tiny little germs got into the medicine and contaminated it, which means it got dirty and dangerous. When people took this contaminated medicine, they got really sick and some even died.

This was a very scary thing because lots of people were sick with diphtheria at the time and they really needed this medicine to get better. But thankfully, doctors and scientists figured out what was happening and were able to stop using the contaminated medicine. They made sure that new batches of the medicine were made in clean, safe places so that people wouldn't get sick anymore.

Nowadays, we have lots of rules and regulations to make sure that our medicine is safe and free from germs so that people can get better when they're sick.