DOCTORS in Aceh, Indonesia, are struggling to save tsunami
survivors who have developed tetanus. Médecins sans Frontières,
which has teams working in Aceh, has reported more than 60
tetanus cases and says that more are expected. Few people in
Aceh have been vaccinated against tetanus. The tetanus
bacterium, which is found in soil, thrives in dirty wounds with
a poor oxygen supply, such as the puncture wounds common among
survivors. "They've had a number of deaths up there. It sounds a
bit desperate," says Darryl Maher, medical director of CSL
Bioplasma in Melbourne, Australia. The company supplies tetanus
immunoglobulins, which can be used to treat people who have been
infected. Immunoglobulins contain antibodies against the toxin
made by the tetanus bacterium. It is this toxin that causes the
disease's characteristic muscular spasms. The immunoglobulins
are obtained from the blood of donors who have been vaccinated
against tetanus. But because tetanus ... To continue reading
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