494 Chapter XV 



or tumours, the operation for cryptorchitis or hernias, etc. are often 

 complicated by tetanus. Moreover, tetanus may frequently appear 

 in horses that have received wounds in the foot or in the lower 

 parts of the limbs, "Clous de rue," farrier's punctures, wire-heels, 

 blows, etc. 



[517] With the object of remedying this state of things Nocard 1 distri- 

 buted to veterinarians about 70 litres of antitetanus serum to be 

 employed for protective purposes. The majority of the animals 

 treated (horses, donkeys, mules, bulls, rams, lambs, and pigs) received 

 two injections of serum at an interval of 10 12 days, 20 c.c. for 

 large animals and 6 10c.c. for sheep and pigs. Of 3088 animals 

 which received the first injection of serum immediately after the 

 operation not a single one contracted tetanus. Of 400 animals which 

 received the first injection at a later period, 1 4 days and more 

 after the accidental wound of which they had been the victims, 

 one horse only, treated five days after the accident (farrier's punc- 

 ture), was seized with mild tetanus, but it soon recovered. In the 

 same localities where the results of the vaccination were so brilliant, 

 314 cases of grave and fatal tetanus occurred amongst animals operated 

 upon or injured that were not submitted to the serum treatment. 



It may be readily understood with these facts before us why the 

 practice of protective vaccinations of animals against tetanus should 

 have spread so rapidly amongst veterinarians. The demand for anti- 

 tetanus serum from the Pasteur Institute of Paris for veterinary use 

 increases every year at a great ratio. Thus in 1896 there were sent 

 out only 1511 bottles of 10 c.c. each, in 1898 the number rose to 

 24,959 bottles, in 1900 it exceeded 43,000. 



The efficacy of the antitetanus serum employed as a protective 

 agent can no longer be questioned, but it must not be forgotten 

 that its injection does not render the treatment of the wounds 

 unnecessary. These wounds should receive a rigorous antiseptic 

 cleansing. All foreign bodies should be carefully extracted ; other- 

 wise the prolonged presence of tetanus spores might set up a late 

 tetanus after the disappearance of the transient immunity due to the 

 serum. 



The protective injections of antitetanus serum into men likely to 

 contract tetanus are also beginning to spread. It often happens 

 that bicyclists, in falling, receive injuries which are contaminated by 



1 Bull. Acad. de med., Paris, 1895, t. xxxiv, p. 407 ; ibid., 1897, t. xxxvin, p. 109; 

 Lompt. rend. XII Congr. Internal de Med. d, Moscou, 1897, t. vn, p. 244. 



