TETANUS MENACE

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 March 1934, Page 10

TETANUS MENACE

INFECTION FACTORS

SYDNEY, March 6. Another death from tetanus after a major operation has aroused public apprehension about this deadly disease again, and has more, particularly revived the question whether the catgut used for sutures, after chemical treatment is really sterile. In this last case, Mrs. Dalimore was admitted to North Shore Hospital when seriously ill, but she developed tetanus after the-operation and died about a week later. The coroner considered it proved that the catgut had been properly sterilised and suggested that the tetanus germs had been present in the body before the operation. One of the doctors called in evidence at the inquest testified that many .people carry tetanus germs about with them, and it is a matter of common knowledge that these germs are distributed widely throughout the soil. There have been two cases here recently which illustrate their prevalence. A boy jumping from a fence struck his foot on a. bone, and though the wound was treated with disinfectant and soon healed, he died ten days latex- of tetanus. Another boy threw a bit of rile at his brother and it struck him on tho foot. The wound healed, but tetanus intervened and in nine days the boy was dead. , STERILISATION QUESTIONED. Evidently the most careful.and elaborate precautions had to be taken to exclude these insidious germs as far as possible from the human system. But the catgut used by surgeons may itself be infected, and this might explain the many deaths from tetanus after major operations. Last November Mrs. Adelaide Moses was operated upon in a private suburban hospital and she died of tetanus. The operating surgeon insisted that, the catgut had been completely sterilised. But Dr. Morgan, the chief State microbiologist, said that he had found tetanus germs on the spools of catgut used by Dr. Watson in this operation; and he added that, in his opinion, the method of disinfecting usually followed —with biniodide of mercury —is not really efficacious. This question of the difficulty of sterilising catgut or making sure that it is free from germs was raised over twelve months ago when a serious outbreak of tetanus occurred in the Wooliongong district.

At the time Mr. Weaver, as Minister for Health, promised to look into the matter and threatened to stop the importation of foreign catgut, which was said to be less carefully and completely sterilised than the British product. The whole question is one that has naturally engaged medical attention here, and according to one of our newspapers a ‘‘brilliant young surgeon” who has done some post-gradual work in London is preparing a paper, to be read before the 8.M.A., in which he claims that “it is beyond human power to make surgical catgut reliably asceptic.” The Treason is that the sheepgut from which surgical sutures are made is “the natural habitat of the bacillus” which the sheep finds in the soil and that it cannot be eliminated without destroying the gut altogether. He therefore advocates the use of silk as a. substitute. Of course it is a matter for experts, but one hopes that they will speedily make up theirl minds, i