Nagpur: Lack of awareness, lack of immunization, and poverty leading to unhygienic living conditions in Melghat affects people in a big way. Tetanus , a rare disease in cities, continues to be present in this rural tribal belt. This monsoon seems to have seen a spurt in the disease in the area.Dr Ashish Satav, who runs the Mahatma Gandhi Tribal Hospital in Utavali village in Dharni taluka in Amravati district, says he normally sees 2-3 patients annually but has seen three in the last month along. In fact, four cases were reported in the area. One patient who went to government primary health centre at Bairagarh died last week.Of the three who approached Dr Satav, one has left after treatment for Baroda and two others — one 55-year-old man from Dharni and a 39-year-old woman from Mandu village — are doing well after treatment. Third patient was from village Karda. Dr Satav said since tetanus was a notifiable disease he could not share the names of the patients.Locked jaw, in which person cannot open mouth, is the most common symptom of the disease. Nerve spasms leading to convulsions are another sign. Tetanus is caused due to a bacterium called as Clostridium tetani present in soil and human and animal faeces and releases tetanus toxin.“The bacteria get attached to nerve cells but make the body very hard, with back turning like a bow, limbs becoming rigid, and person gets spasms. It can be life threatening and cause death if not treated in time,” says Dr Satav.Dr Vipin Khadse, a medical officer at the hospital, says that in cities children get the preventive vaccine for tetanus, the mother is also given the vaccine. In case of any injury on the road or due to any iron injury, taking the TT or Tetanus Toxoid injection as preventive measure is common. In Melghat belt, tribals have no knowledge of the disease or its causes. “People walk barefoot even after foot injury and get infected. Due lack of awareness they end up going to Bhumka and Parihars who are local traditional faith healers,” he said.Dr Satav says one patient, a farmer, had a history of laceration during weed cuttings in rice fields. He showed same symptoms as tetanus but did not come to hospital. “He went to a faith healer who first organized a ‘Dhunwa puja’ or burning of bamboo sticks. The patient was then cut with copper blades, a practice called Damma,” the doctor said.

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