The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-13
STATE MEDICAL AUTHORITIES TO
 FIGHT TETANUS
Anticipate Fourth of July Burns Through Issuance
 Of Circular Letter.

The state board of health has is- Sued a circular to town and city au- thorities throughout the state in which attention is called to the necessity of being prepared for accidents lon Fourth of July. It refers to the dan ger of tetanus as a result of gunshot wounds and advises the use of anti toxin to prevent the development of the disease. The board furnishes all towns with antitoxin free of charge. The circular is as follows:l
 The necessity of being prepared carries with it the assumption that present method of celebrating our Glorious Fourth this assumption is not far wrong and preparedness is necessary.
 The original method of celebrating the natal day of our country was by firing salutes with cannon manned By soldiers. This has evolved into a noisemaking custom in which every conceivable method is employed for making a noise, regardless of life, limb or property.
 The terrible toll of this method of celebration has at last been recog- nized and many communities, heed ing the cry for a safe and sane Fourth have adopted restrictive ordinances.
 
 shown by statistics. In 1903 four hundred and sixty-six people were killed by fireworks on the Fourth of July. In 1915 but thirty lost their lives.
 It behooves every city and town in the state of Connecticut to see that their fireworks ordinances or regula- tions are strictly observed, or if no such regulations exist, to adopt re- strictive measures at once Even the record of thirty dead and eleven hun dred and thirty-ffve injured is far too great a loss when it is preventable and unnecessary.
 While it is admitted that the great reduction in Fourth of July injuries is attributable, to great extent to the restriction of the sale of fireworks, fatal injuries have shown a much greater decpease than have the non- fatal injuries Here is where the te- tanus antitoxin has done it's good work. Many cases of tetanus resulted from Runshot wounds and before the introduction of tetanus antitoxin every case of tetanus was considered fatal Not only is the disease modified by antitoxin but those injured can be fortified against tetan1s Cor Iockjaw) infection by the immediate introduc- ton of prophylactic dose. Before the introduction of tetanus antitoxin, Verys simple gunShOt wounds some times resulted in death because of lockjaw infection. Now, by using an- titoxin early, that is soon after the in jury, infection by tetanus can be avoided, tetanus infection being a sub sequent infection
 Fortunately the use of antitozin has become almost universal through out the larger cities, with the result of very few deaths from tetanus.
 The state board of health furnished tetanus antitoxin free to any citizen of Connecticut through the local health officers It is, therefore, pos sib1e for those in rural districts, as wei as. in the city to avail themselves of their protective measure, and we urgently recommend it's use in all cases of powder or gunshot wounds this. coming Fourth Every health officer in towns where fireworks are not restricted has been instructed to have supply of tetanus on hand Be prepared to meet this danger, if not by legal restriction, then by securing g scientific treatment for those injured