The earlier tetanus develops then the worse the outcome and the longer it takes to develop then the better the likely result.

The tetanus germs produce a poison or toxin which affects the nervous system.

The first symptoms are often restlessness and agitation which is then followed by spasm of the muscles.

The jaw muscles are often the first affected and so the patient has difficulty in opening the mouth — the old name for tetanus was lock-jaw.

Eventually all the muscles go into severe cramps or spasms and breathing may be affected and the patient may then die of lung or heart failure.

The modern treatment of tetanus is to sedate the patient heavily with massive doses of diazepam, a tranquilliser and a curare-like muscle relaxant drug used in anaesthesia.

A tracheotomy, or opening of the windpipe is made and the patient is put on a breathing machine and breathes artificially.

*569/71/1*

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 15th, 2009 at 10:01 am and is filed under General health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.