LOCKJAW.

Otago Witness, Issue 3332, 23 January 1918, Page 13

LOCKJAW.

Tho scientific name for lockjaw is tetanus, or the disease of sharp muscular spasm. This name is better than lockjaw, because the jaws need "hot bo locked; this condition arises on account of their anatomical and physiological formation—namely, the strong natural contractions which keep tho jaw closed r in health. Tho disease is caused by the multiplication of germs known as the bacillus tetani, which may bo found in almost any garden, paddock, or dusty road, but which only become dangerous under a combination of circumstances which in the main are a lessened power of resistance on the part of the animal, suitable climatic conditions, a wound by which it can enter. The lastnamed may bo internal, such as a tooth being cut, or caused by worms. The wound must have only a restricted capacity for air, so it is easy to see how pricks of the feet or deep stake _ wounds are common precursors of the disease. In an experimental laboratory - a small piece of wood taken from a lockjaw case i a inserted once a year, and has been for the last 12 years, iiito_ an animal, which each year developed tetanus after. As the disease attacks all domesticated animals and man, it is not one to be treated carelessly. But to reproduce it there must be 'three factors, a susceptible animal, tetanus germs, and a wound. Tho symptoms do not seem to bo so well known as they should be, because in the horse at least they arc so distinct that, once a man has scan a case, ho will be able to recognise another; it must not be thought, however, that all cases present clearly-marked symptoms at the outset, for they ‘ do not; • but. once seen, the other symptoms will bo looked for. The animal is stiff in movement, nervous, and when approached, quickly or noisily the third eyelid, sometimes called tho white of the eye (which it is not), tho haw’, flicks across tho eyeball; the jaws arc stiff in movement, and swallowing is difficult, though

there is greater difficulty in getting- the food as far back as tho throat than in swallowing it once- there. The symptoms usually increase in severity, and in a very acuto case tho horse looks ao if cut out of a block of wood, and moves all in one piece, the jaws become tightly locked, and after profuse sweating and great agony the horso dies. Ho should be mercifully destroyed before such symptoms arise. It 13 often said lockjaw ie incurablo (writes Mr F. G. Place, B.V.Sc, in the South Australian Journal of Agriculture). This is by no mcan3 the case, and Nature provides every animal with a cure, insomuch that in tho blood are bodies which render the animal an unfit place for "the germs to develop. These are called antibodies, which produce antitoxins, and in this way many animala recover Avi'thout any treatment —in fact, more animals have been killed by treatment than otherwise, suoh methods as forcing the jaws apart, hypodermic injections of alkaloids, and so forth have never oured—sometimes they have •'■ failed to kill It is very interesting to read in veterinary papers the surprise of a man who has dono nothing and found his patients have recovered, and there ia a strong tendency to drop old methods and adopt this expectant attitude. Can it be that the much-vaunted antitoxin has very little to do with tho recoveries in cases whero it is used? Scientists tell us that, as a curative agent, it is not to be relied on. though they agree that, as a preventive, its use enables the blood to become more actively hostile to the germ. Epsom salts have also been found to help tho blood- in this matter, and there is no harm

in giving a few ounces in each feed or water to an affected animal —in fact, the percentage of recoveries after their use is large. Give them, and make the beast comfortable in a paddock or stable, and give Nature a chance. Castration is a common inlet for the disease, cows frequently suffer after calving, and lambs from tailing. Antiseptics used at such' times are a safeguard, and it must always be remembered that dirty instruments can and do carry the disease.