TREATMENT OF TETANUS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11655, 10 June 1912, Page 3

TREATMENT OF TETANUS.

ITS PREVALENCE IN AUCKLAND. D\NGER- OF BABE HANDS AND FEET. (Lyttelton Times Correspondent.) Auckland, June 8. A Press Association telegram from Sydney states that a Dubbo doctor has successfully used the latest phenol treatment for tetanus on two boys, in view of the samewhat alarming statements concerning the prevalence ot tetanus bacilli in the soil around Auckland which were made during a recent inquiry concerning tho death ot a patient members of the honorary medical stair a reporter approached a leading medical authority on tetanus this morning for some information concerning the treatment referred to in the cabled message. . ' 'Phenol is the teclinical term for carbolic acid," was the reply, "and carbolic acid has been used in the treatment of tetanus since the method was ' introduced by an Italian doctor named BacceU some'thirty years ago. There is consequently nothing ne-w about the treatment." The medical man interviewed further stated that it was no new experience to fine! old methods revived from tima to time as fresh discoveries for treatment of certain diseases. "As a matter of fact," he added, "just prior to the death of tho tetanus patient which formed the subject of the recent inquiry, I had secured four successful recoveries in acute cases of tetanus. Four recoveries out of. five cases was certainly a striking percentage. As a rule, the proportion of successes is mm 50 to 60 per cent." . His method, the doctor explained, was to inject an anti-toxin into the regions of the spinal cord, and others of the hospital doctors had obtained good results by similar means. "Regarding the supposed excessiy.a prevalence of the tetanus germ in Auckland,"'the doctor remarked in re~ ply to a question-, "I do not think there is foundation for the supposition. It ia always most prevalent iu hot climates, thriving in the'soil, not in the. air. I have repeatedly warned parents against allowing their children to go barefooted for this very reason.. They are apt to sustain scratches and cuts on their feet, with the result that tetanus infection might, follow." In view of the foregoing remarks, it is interesting ;to note that the ' recent tetanus inquiry Dr Gore Gillon stated that.the tetanus bacilli in the volcanic soil around Auckland was like snakebite, that the tetanus germ fairly teemed therein,' that it- wasdangerouy for people to garden with cut finger*, and that-there was somo danger attaching to the consumption of uncooked: vegetables . grown '. in infected His remarks were supported at the time by leading medical men. "I have seen more tetanus during the. four years'l have been in Auckland than during the whole of my remaining experience in Europe and South "America." remarked' another doctor, .when spoken to by a-reporter this morning. He agreed with Dr Gillon that many .localities in Auckland were hotbeds of tetanus infection.