The abovementioned C. welchii, which today is already called C. perfringens is a bacterium of the same family as tetanus. It is also anaerobic, lives in soil, in human and animal intestines, in dust, and is as common as C. tetani. However, since there is no vaccine against this bacterium, you probably have not heard anything about it. This is a bit strange, since it causes a far more dangerous and more common disease – gas gangrene. Upon getting into anaerobic environment through a deep wound, this bacterium begins to release a toxin, which quickly leads to tissue necrosis, which ends, at best, with amputation. Unlike tetanus, for which anti-tetanus serum is effective in case of injury, gas gangrene serum does not work.
1,000 people get sick with gas gangrene in the USA each year. Mortality rate is 20-25%.
How many people get sick with tetanus? 30 people per year. Only three of them die. And while if a person survives tetanus, their nervous tissue is restored, and they get fully cured, then after surviving gas gangrene, the person remains disabled, at best.
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