CURARE FOR LOCKJAW.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 291, 6 November 1934, Page 2

CURARE FOR LOCKJAW.

The arrow poison, nsed by the natives of South America, and known as curare, has apparently a use in the treatment of disease, according to a report in an issue of the Lancet, says the London Morning Post. The poison is used by natives to paralyse their game, since its action is to paralyse voluntary movement by blocking the passage of impulses from the nerves to the muscles. In tetanus, or lockjaw, severe spasms of all the muscles of the body occur, and although curare was used in the treatment of this condition as long ago as 1878, no one seems to have made use of the drug'again until recent times. The patient who was successfully treated at Cambridge cut liis hand while cutting reeds, and developed the classical stiffness of the jaw about a week Itltcr. Treatment by . anti-toxin and the usual sedative drugs did not have the desired effect of preventing the spasms tr°m spreading to all the muscles of the body. Four doses of curare were given at six-hourly intervals. Two hours later the muscle spasms were less severe. Two .relapses occurred for which curare was again given, and eventually. Hm condition came under control with complete recovery. Another patiejU> a child, was not so fortunate, for although curare controlled the muscle spasms, death occurred from failure of the heart and respiration. Dosage of the drug is obviously, the difficult problem, but the encouraging result will no doubt lead to improved methods of standardisation.