TETANUS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19762, 13 April 1926, Page 10

TETANUS.

CASES IN AUCKLAND

MENACE OF THE SOIL.

(From Oub Own Correspondent.)

AUCKLAND, April 12. Of eight cases of tetanus in the Auckland province last year, five were fatal, while three deaths, two of which have been in the city, have already occurred since December last out of five cases already reported. The seriousness of this state of affairs cannot be too highly appreciated in Auckland where infection is more liable to result on account of the great amount of time spent out of doors. The bacillus tetani is found mostly in soil well manured and cultivated and the disease is apt to follow infected or septic wounds particularly about the hands and feet. As long as oxygen is kept from the bacillus it is a strange fact that it will not germinate, so that it may be Iving dormant for an illimitable period. The seriousness of the after effects is not at all compatible with the size or nature of the wound, and r or 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 died. In strong contrast to the present day small proportion of deaths the mortality years ago was much higher, though it never reached a figure to -be compared with that produced by epidemics which periodically swept the country in the days of the Maori wars. Tetanus was frequently met and the soil in the districts around Onehunga where camps were situated was' particularly dangerous.