The Wellcome physiological research laboratories : founded 1894, Walter Dowson ... director.
- Date:
- [1903?]
Licence: In copyright
Credit: The Wellcome physiological research laboratories : founded 1894, Walter Dowson ... director. Source: Wellcome Collection.
35/42 page 31
![pneumococcus serum is a bactericidal, not an antitoxic agent, and might be expected to work beneficially in cases of croupous pneumonia only. The limited number of recorded cases treated with this serum do not appear to bear out the good hopes which were at first entertained of it. Tuberculosis. The serum treatment of phthisis has not, so far, given very encouraging results. In fact, there appears to be Tuberculosis* a fajr]y general agreement that the cure of this disease is still a matter mainly of hygiene and environment. Anti-T etanus Serum* Anti-Tetanus Serum. This serum, like anti-diphtheria serum, is antitoxic in its action. Although it may be stated that some cases of this disease have been distinctly benefited by its administration, in many others, the serum has failed. A consideration of the nature of the disease shows why this is so, and why, even more than in diphtheria, it is necessary to commence the treatment at the earliest possible moment. Tetanus is a disease caused by the action of the toxin of the bacillus tetani upon the central nervous system ; the toxin, as in the case of diphtheria, being produced in some local lesion, the seat of the growth and multiplication of the specific organisms. In tetanus, the toxin makes its way to the motor ganglion cells, partly by way of the nerves in connection with the affected part, and partly by way of the blood. Unfortunately, the convulsive stage of tetanus is an indication not of the commencement of the disease, as is the appearance of a membrane in diphtheria, but of a comparatively advanced stage of the disease and of the occurrence of serious damage to the nervous system. The remedy should therefore be administered immediately on the manifestation of any distinct symptoms possibly tetanic, such as difficulty in opening the mouth, stiffness in the neck, or the onset, some days after the accident and without obvious cause, of an acute pain at the point of injury ; and in view of the fact that the tetanus bacillus is localised and restricted to the seat of infection, attention is called to the advantage, in cases of punctured wounds, of excising freely and thoroughly the tissues around. The curative dose of anti-tetanus serum may vary from 50 c.c. to 100 c.c., in one dose or more, but, as a prophylactic in the treatment of wounds Dose.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30602877_0035.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
