I 86 TETANUS 



§ 144. Etiology. Tetanus is caused 

 by a slender bacillus 2 to 5/< in length. It 1^^^ 



forms spores which are at the end of the or- ^\ V 



ganism giving it somewhat the appearance \ f ^^ 



of a pin. On account of this it has been \ ' ^ 



designated the "pin bacillus." It is an- •^"'^ ^ 



aerobic. This organism was first observed Fig. 42. Bacillus 

 by Nicolaier in 1885, although Carle and ^^^'""' 

 Rattone showed in 1884, that this disease could be transmitted 

 from man to animals by inoculation with the pus from the local 

 lesion. In 1889, Kitasato isolated the bacillus and studied it 

 in pure culture. This bacillus stains readily with the aniline 

 dyes, especially with carbol-fuchsin. It takes the Gram stain. 

 It grows well in nutrient gelatin, agar or bouillon and on blood 

 serum at the temperature of the body and in an atmosphere of 

 hydrogen or in the absence of air as in deep agar cultures. The 

 addition of a little grape sugar facilitates its growth. It has 

 the di.stinction of producing the most powerful (poisonous?) 

 toxinof any known bacteria, 0.23 of a milligram being estimated 

 as a fatal dose for a man of 175 pounds weight. 



The fact that this bacillus is an anaerobe renders its culti- 

 vation of little practical value in diagnosing the disease. Al- 

 though it is not distributed in the body, it can usually be found 

 in cover-glass preparations made from the local lesion and 

 stained with carbol fuchsin. 



Bacillus tetaiii is found in the soil. It has been found in 

 hay dust, in the mortar of old masonry, in the dust in rooms, 

 barracks and hospitals and in the arrow poison of certain savages 

 in the New Hebrides. They obtain it by smearing their arrow 

 heads with mud from crab holes in the swamp. It is reported 

 that certain savages in Africa destroy their enemies by putting 

 bits of broken glass mixed with certain soils in their shoes. 

 The cause of death is tetanus. Mould rich in horse manure 

 seems to be the most favorable abode for it. It has been 

 stated that it exists in all soils. There are good reasons for 

 believing that this is an over estimate of the wideness of its 

 distribution. It certainly is more numerous in some localities 

 than in others. 



