COURSE AND MANAGEMENT OF TETANUS - A REPO RT OF 4 CASES

Within a span of 18 months 4 patients (2 men, 2 women) were admitted w ith generalized tetanus to our neurological intensive care unit. The ' 'period of onset'' ranged from 2 to 14 days. All patients needed artif icial ventilation over 17 to 38 days. The clinical course was complica ted by gram-negative pneumonia in 3 of the 4 patients. Time of hospita lization ranged between 35 and 60 days. One patient had never been imm unized against tetanus. The other 3 had not received a booster dose fo r over 10 years. All 4 patients survived, 3 of them without sequelae.