#14: The Down Sides to Diptheria

There was something unreasonably intense about how schools covered the 1925 Alaskan diphtheria outbreak. One minute you’re learning about geography, the next you’re spiraling into a very specific fear of dying from a disease you’d only heard of because of an animated dog.

Balto wasn’t just a hero—he was the last line of defense between you and certain doom. Somehow, that story stuck harder than anything else in the health unit. Forget chickenpox or the flu—diphtheria was the threat. Looking back, it’s hilarious how a well-meaning history lesson snowballed into medical anxiety.