[Diphtheria and Renaissance Spanish physicians].

Along the history of medicine, diphtheria has been the cause of many deadly epidemics. Up to the incorporation of microbiology in medicine and the definition of diphtheria provided by Bretonneau in 1826, this disease was studied with all types of sore throut into the galenic system. Spanish physicians in Renaissance started the way to its systematisation, taking it off the rest of sore throat types, with other laryngeal diseases, as it was known later as "croup", giving it the name of "garrotillo". They were the first to describe some important questions about this disease, as the specificity of the diphtheric pseudomembranes, the ineffective potential of salivary drops and the palsy of the soft palate.