diphtheria
E824428
Diphtheria is a serious, potentially life-threatening infectious disease caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, characterized by sore throat, fever, and a thick gray membrane in the throat that can obstruct breathing.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| diphtheria canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T9833871 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: diphtheria Context triple: [diphtheria antitoxin, treats, diphtheria]
-
A.
diphtheria antitoxin
Diphtheria antitoxin is a serum-based immune therapy that neutralizes the toxin produced by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, used to treat and prevent the severe complications of diphtheria infection.
-
B.
Anthrax
Anthrax is an American thrash metal band, considered one of the genre’s “Big Four” alongside Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer.
-
C.
Antrax
Antrax is a powerful, ancient artificial intelligence and primary antagonist in Terry Brooks's Shannara fantasy series, known for hoarding lost technology and ruthlessly defending it.
-
D.
Bacillus anthracis
Bacillus anthracis is a Gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium that causes the disease anthrax in humans and animals.
-
E.
Trenchmouth
Trenchmouth was an American post-hardcore and noise rock band from Chicago active in the late 1980s and 1990s, known for its experimental sound and politically charged lyrics.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: diphtheria Target entity description: Diphtheria is a serious, potentially life-threatening infectious disease caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, characterized by sore throat, fever, and a thick gray membrane in the throat that can obstruct breathing.
-
A.
diphtheria antitoxin
Diphtheria antitoxin is a serum-based immune therapy that neutralizes the toxin produced by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, used to treat and prevent the severe complications of diphtheria infection.
-
B.
Anthrax
Anthrax is an American thrash metal band, considered one of the genre’s “Big Four” alongside Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer.
-
C.
Antrax
Antrax is a powerful, ancient artificial intelligence and primary antagonist in Terry Brooks's Shannara fantasy series, known for hoarding lost technology and ruthlessly defending it.
-
D.
Bacillus anthracis
Bacillus anthracis is a Gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium that causes the disease anthrax in humans and animals.
-
E.
Trenchmouth
Trenchmouth was an American post-hardcore and noise rock band from Chicago active in the late 1980s and 1990s, known for its experimental sound and politically charged lyrics.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (57)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
infectious disease
ⓘ
toxin-mediated disease ⓘ |
| affectedSystem |
cardiovascular system
ⓘ
nervous system ⓘ respiratory system ⓘ |
| causativeAgent | Corynebacterium diphtheriae NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| hasCause | infection with toxigenic strains of Corynebacterium diphtheriae ⓘ |
| hasComplication |
cardiac arrhythmia
ⓘ
death ⓘ heart failure ⓘ paralysis ⓘ respiratory failure ⓘ |
| hasForm |
cutaneous diphtheria
ⓘ
laryngeal diphtheria ⓘ respiratory diphtheria ⓘ |
| hasPathologicalFeature |
local tissue necrosis
ⓘ
pseudomembrane formation on tonsils and pharynx ⓘ systemic absorption of diphtheria toxin ⓘ |
| hasToxin | diphtheria toxin ⓘ |
| historicalSignificance | major cause of childhood mortality before widespread vaccination ⓘ |
| ICD10 | A36 ⓘ |
| incubationPeriod | typically 2 to 5 days ⓘ |
| isNotifiableDiseaseIn | many countries worldwide ⓘ |
| modeOfAction | inhibition of host cell protein synthesis by diphtheria toxin ⓘ |
| prevention |
DTaP vaccine
ⓘ
Td vaccine booster ⓘ Tdap vaccine ⓘ diphtheria toxoid vaccine ⓘ good respiratory hygiene ⓘ |
| riskFactor |
crowded living conditions
ⓘ
incomplete vaccination ⓘ lack of vaccination ⓘ poor hygiene ⓘ travel to endemic areas ⓘ |
| symptom |
airway obstruction
ⓘ
bull neck swelling ⓘ difficulty swallowing ⓘ fever ⓘ hoarseness ⓘ malaise ⓘ myocarditis ⓘ peripheral neuropathy ⓘ sore throat ⓘ swollen neck lymph nodes ⓘ thick gray pseudomembrane in throat ⓘ |
| transmission |
close person-to-person contact
ⓘ
contact with contaminated objects ⓘ respiratory droplets ⓘ |
| treatment |
airway management
ⓘ
antibiotics ⓘ diphtheria antitoxin ⓘ erythromycin ⓘ penicillin ⓘ supportive care ⓘ |
| vaccineSchedule | childhood primary series with periodic boosters ⓘ |
| vaccineType | inactivated toxoid ⓘ |
| zoonoticStatus | primarily human disease ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: diphtheria Description of subject: Diphtheria is a serious, potentially life-threatening infectious disease caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, characterized by sore throat, fever, and a thick gray membrane in the throat that can obstruct breathing.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.