Word: lockjaw
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...this sudden affliction of senatorial lockjaw? The answer seemed obvious: Baker is involved in a scandal of major proportions, and the Senate plainly feared that some of its own members are in it with him. Yet the Senate's self-protective silence had an unintended effect, creating a climate in which talk and speculation flourished with tales of illicit sex, influence peddling and fast-buck financial deals...
...already in desperate shape. His jaw was stiff, and he could hardly open his mouth. He had difficulty in swallowing, and he was suffering from severe pains in his legs and back. St. James doctors had no trouble diagnosing Douma's problem: he was dying from tetanus (lockjaw) caused by a dirty wooden splinter he had picked up in his chicken yard 13 days before...
...gave him a second high-pressure treatment. After that, as his muscles relaxed and his arched back straightened, Douma was clearly on the mend. Just five days after entering the hospital, and little more than three days after his first tank treatment, Douma spoke for the first time. His lockjaw had eased enough for him to swallow water and milk, and he seemed well on the way to recovery...
...known, so the Douma case alone proves little. But one of the doctors remarked: "It's amazing that such a relatively simple and obvious treatment, based on an old but neglected principle, should have to wait until 1962 to be tested." Equally amazing is the fact that although lockjaw is almost entirely preventable by vaccination, only one American in four bothers to get the preventive tetanus toxoid shots. Half the 450 tetanus cases reported in the U.S. each year still die unnecessarily...
...risk is nearly always needless, says Dr. Bardenwerper. Although tetanus (lockjaw) itself can be deadly, it can best be guarded against with a toxoid shot, which is made from killed tetanus bacteria and, unlike the antitoxin, contains no animal protein and virtually never causes serious reactions. The public, complains Dr. Bardenwerper, has had too little prodding from doctors on the importance of vaccination with tetanus toxoid, and still less on the need for booster shots every four or five years. Even if the patient has had no recent shots, there is generally no need for antitoxin: before tetanus can develop...