[Tetanus illnesses and mortality 1977-1983]

During the years from 1977-1983 there was an incidence of 59 diseases and 38 deaths of tetanus in the GDR. Compared with the years from 1957-1975 there was a clear decrease of morbidity and mortality, letality however, increased. This increase of letality is not only due to the patients higher age, but also to omission and delay of immediate simultaneous active and passive immunization of injured unvaccinated persons. In many cases this can be attributed to the fact that the guidelines for preventing tetanus were unknown or that the physician called for first medical treatment could not adequately cope with it.