[Studies on the frequency of Corynebacterium diphtheriae carriers among students of the elementary schools in Bari].

The morbidity of diphtheria reported in Bari in 1970 and in 1971 was 17.1 and 19.1 for 100000 inhabitants; in the same years the national average was respectively 1.6 and 1.3. In a epidemiological research carried out in the same period in 1017 school-children of Bari not previously selected, 45 carriers of C. diphtheriae (4.42%) were identified. Toxigen strains were isolated from 11 carriers (1.08%). The frequency of carriers was higher in the school-children 9-11 years aged (6-04%), lower in the school-children 6-8 years aged (2.99%).