Muscle and serum adenosine triphosphatase in patients suffering from tetanus

Serial estimation of muscle and serum adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activity was performed in 16 healthy control patients and 32 cases with tetanus. There was no significant difference due to age and sex in muscle and serum ATPase activity between the normal and tetanus cases. Tetanus patients showed a marked increase in muscle and serum ATPase activity as compared to normal. The ATPase activity increased with the severity of convulsion and disease. There was increased mortality in tetanus patients having higher values of muscle and serum ATPase.