Case 99. (Briand, 1914.)
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Southard, Elmer Ernest
Mdm. L. was a morphinist. After the outbreak of the war, she went to a general hospital to recover from morphinism, but was too excited to be kept there. Accordingly, she had to be sent to Sainte-Anne, but upon arrival she developed distinct signs of tetanus.
It seems that Mdm. L. was the widow of a Colonial who had given her the first injections ten years before, for dysentery. She tried several times to stop. Daily dose 1.5 grams.
She was in a cachectic state, and according to her mother, took no care of her syringe, trailing it about everywhere. Her thighs, arms, and anterior aspect of the body were covered with scars. There were small phlegmons in places. Did she inoculate herself with bacillus tetani from an infected needle? In any case, she died of tetanus.