Evening star., 1901-06-22
Scientists Say it is the Deadliest of
All Microbes.
N. Y. HEALTH BOARDS CAMPAIGN
Live for Centuries in Soil and Oh
Buildings.
NO CURE FOR lOCKJAW
Written for The Evening Star.

1HS I'VE" 1OTh nedlIn DOdfO IS engaged
in siege of what it states officially to
be the most deadly disease known to man,
i.e., lockjaw. The public attitude toward
this disease is that it is a dreaded bug
aboo, the realization of which is seldom
manifested in real life. But it is not gem
orally known that one department of the
health board directs its energy to nothing
else than the prevention of the malady in
animals: that Bellevue Hospital always
has at least one human patient doomed to
death because Of the disease; that no ami
NAL ever yet got well of it; that no human
being ever yet got well of its acute form;
that there is no cure for it once It's Symp-
toms have strongly manifested themselves;
that the microbe of tetanus turks literally
everywhere and that any person may con-
tract the disease and have it some time
without knowing it. For the popularity
OF this deadlleSt of germs is that, having
once entered the human body the point
of rusty nail or otherwise it will incu-
bate and quietly poison the whole blood
and nervous system before it is even felt
by its unfortunate host, and that the
symptoms which then suddenly manifest
themselves are really not the beginning of
the disease, but the beginning of the death
struggle of the sufferer
The lockjaw microbe is the microbe of
dirt; and hence with the disappearance of
snow from the ground and throughout the
spring Of the year every person is
liable to take it into the system with any
accidental cut or bruise. 1t is a disease
of the spring and summer, the mortality
OF which is greatest about the Fourth of
July, hence the present activity of the
health board In view of the facts, there
fore, one of the leading physicians of the
department was asked to describe the NAL
ady. to tell how it is contracted, where it
Is 1ound most prevalent and what is being
done to offset its terrible effects. In reply
he wrote the following graphic not to say
appalling account:
No Person Immune.
"Of all the dangers that lurk unseen in
the pathways of mankind tetanus or lock-
jaw is the most to be dreaded. For late In
vestigations show that no person is i'm
mune from it; that the prince or the pau
per; the stay-at-home or the gad-about,
may become suddenly inoculated with
equal facility; that it turks in the dust of
cities, in the soil of the farm in the mortar
of ancestral homes, in hay dust, in bar
racks and hospitals in spider webs, in the
water OF the Dead sea; that age does not
kill it, cold does not destroy it, and even
from heat that will kill most germs it
energies phoenix-like to continue it's work
of destruction. Unlike diphtheria and other
forms of toxic poisoning, the symptoms of
which become apparent Immediately the
disease is acquired, the bacillus of lockjaw
propagates undetected in the body until
the original wound through which it en-
been forgotten, after which it suddenly re-
veals its presence and the horrible result
of it's toxic propensity with a virulence that
will be appreciated when it is pointed out
that compared with the dried venom of
the cobra (the deadiiest of snakes) the
tetanus bacillus is over 10 times more poi
sonous; that it is 1000 times more poi
SonouS than pruSSic acid, $500 times more
poisonous than strychnine and 5000 times
more poisonous than atrophne''
THE geographical distribution of tetanus
Inhabited by man. In other words, it is
found everywhere But there are some
spots where 1t turks with particular per-
sistence. New York city seems to be the
center OF lockjaw district The baciIli
have been found in the street dirt of Man
haitian and also in the dust from Long Is
land and New Jersey. DR.. Williams of the
New York health department twice OBJ
tained them from the air of the city. Yet
this Is not startling in view of it's preva-
lence in other parts of the world. The
Hudson river valley is full of it, That is
to say, the microbe turks in the soil. The
same condition pertains to southerpsPenn-
sylvania. to Virginia In it's eastern ana GEN.
trail portions, to Georgia around Savannah,
which had a reputation for lockjaw as long
ago as 1778, to southern Louisiana, to Illi-
nois and southern California AS a globe
trotter the germs have followed in the
wake of the armies of the world, and after
all great battles there have been outbreaks.
Following Napoleon's campaigns in Italy
and France there was great mortality from
lockjaw; there were scores of cases after
the battle Of Waterloo. The retreat from
Moscow, however. was followed by very
few cases. Perhaps because in the winter,
the snow-covered ground did not give the
opportunity for the wounds to be infected
with the soil. Our own Gettysburg was
followed by an outbreak of the disease. So
all old battlefields sure to hold the
germ waiting to spring into active life.
All tropical countries ridden with the
germs. India IS particularly notable. One
physician in Bombay personally witnessed
1855 cases in five years. Our acquisition
of Cuba has brought us a new heritage of
the poison, for hundreds of cases of tetanus
occur in Havana every year.
Above and Underground.
"All parts of the world harbor the mi
>crobe of tetanus, and this microbe exists
under all conditions waiting for a lodg-
ment in the human body. AS it is in the
air, you may swallow it. But fortunately
for mankind the digestive process of the
alimentary tract will overcome it. A wound
on any part of the body may give en-
trance to the baciili if the wounded part be
allowed to come in contact with earth
This pertains to deep earth cuttings as
well as surface cuttings, for the bacillus