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TETANUS 



§ 189. History. Tetanus is one of the diseases that 

 was recognized and described before the Christian era. It 

 was not clearly differentiated until the discovery of its specific 

 cause in 1884. 



§ 190. Geographical distribution. Tetanus is reported 

 to be more prevalent in the hot climates than in the temperate 

 ones, while in the very cold latitudes it is rarely if ever en- 

 countered. It is more frequently met with in some districts 

 than in others. Although very common in certain localities, 

 it is, on the whole, a somewhat rare disease. There seem to 

 be no statistics by which its frequency can be determined in 

 this country, but in certain of the European armies this has 

 been noted. In the Prussian army, it is reported to occur 

 once in a thousand cases of sickness among horses. At 

 Wiirtemberg, Hering reports it once in 3000 cases of disease 

 among the horses in the cavalry. It has also been noted that 

 in some veterinary hospitals it does not occur for long periods, 

 while at other times several cases may appear in rapid succes- 

 sion. It is, however, a wide spread disease. 



§ 191. Etiology. Te- 

 tanus is caused by a slender 

 bacillus 2 to 5 yU in length. 

 It forms spores which are 

 at the end of the organism 

 giving it somewhat the ap- 

 pearance of a pin. On 

 account of this it has been 

 designated the "pin bacil- 

 lus." It is anaerobic. 

 This organism was first ob- 

 served by Nicolaier in 1885, 

 although Carle and Rat- 

 tone showed in 1884 that 

 this disease could be transmitted from man to animals by inoc- 

 ulation with the pus from the local lesion. In 1889, Kitasato 

 isolated the bacillus and studied it in pure culture. This 



Bacillus tetani. 



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