Abdul Rehman.
Clinical study of neonatal Tetanus at Tehsil headquarter hospital.
Pak Paed J Jan ;31(1):34-7.

Introduction: to know the clinical aspects of neonatal tetanus including its prognostic factors. Design: Observational cohort study. Setting: Paediatric department, Tehsil Headquarter Hospital, Liaquetpur. Patients and methods: Every case of neonatal tetanus diagnosed clinically was registered for the study. Results: Forty-one case of neonatal tetanus were included. 12.19% cases were females. All were delivered at home with 97.56% delivered by untrained dais. 95.12% mothers belonged to rural and 97.56% mothers were unvaccinated. The mean age and weight at presentation were 6.341 days and 2.949 kg and mean duration of symptoms were 38.049 hours. Refusal to take feed in 100%, convulsions in 73.17%, inability to open the mouth in 97.56%, fever in 34.15% and excessive cry in 51.22% of cases were the main symptoms. For cutting of umbilical cord knife in 34.15%, blade in 19.51%, scissors in 29.27%, razor in 7.32% and unknown in 7.32% cases were used. The umbilical stump was painted with desi ghee in 19.51%, oil in 4.88%, surma in 39.02% ash in 21.95%, talcum in 2.44%, cow dung in 2.44% and unknown in 9.76% cases. Of the 41 cases, 34.14% were cured, 36.58% expired and in 29.27% the fate was unknown. The expired versus survived group showed the difference between the age of onset 4.80 vs 8.714 days (p=0.002), duration of symptoms 20.8 vs 62.571 hours (p<0.0001) and hospital stay 2.8 vs 14.571 days (p<0.0001), convulsions with apnea 7 vs 3 cases (p=0.2993), weight 2.940 vs 3.007 kg (p=0.717), female sex 2 vs 2 cases and fever 7 vs 3 cases (p=0.2993). Conclusion: The cure rate of neonatal tetanus is very low.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com