TETANUS

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 168, 13 April 1926, Page 9

TETANUS

CASES INCREASE IN AUCKLAND “Dominion” Special. Auckland, April 12. Of eight cases of tetanus in the Auckland Province last year, five were fatal, while three deaths, two of which have in the city, have already occurred since December last. Out ol five cases already reported. The seriousness of this state of affairs cannot be too fully appreciated in Auckland where infection is more liable to result on account of the great amount of time spent out of doors. Bacillus tetani is found mostly in soil well manured and cultivated and the disease is apt to follow infected or septic wounds particularly about hands and feet. As long as oxvgen is kept from the bacillus, it is a strange fact that it will not germinate, so that it may lie dormant in the earth for an illimitable period. The seriousness of the after effects is not at all compatible with the size or nature of the wound, and for this reason neglect is often the cause of infection. In a case at Chelsea recently it was a full week before medical aid was summoned, but the time which had elapsed was too great and the patient subsequently died. In strong contrast to the present dav small proportion of deaths, the mortality years ago was much higher, although it has never reached a figure to be compared with that pro duced bv the epidemics which periodically swept the country. In the days of the Maori Wars, tetanus was frequent and the soil in the district nround Onehunga where camps were situated, was particularly dangerous.