| prevalence of diphtheria carriers among pre-school children. | the carrier rate of corynebacterium diphtheriae in 453 pre-school children in ulloor panchayat, trivandrum, kerala state, india was assessed from november 1976-july 1977. throat and nasal swabs were cultured by standard techniques, and suspect colonies tested for virulence in rabbits. 16 or 3.5% of the children harbored diphtheria; 7 of these were 4-5 years old. only 1 of the c. diphtheriae strains was found to be virulent. several of the isolates were nonvirulent mitis strains, while no int ... | 1983 | 6413401 |