Magnesium sulphate for tetanus

First, they studied tetanus-a disease frequently forgotten, but certainly not gone,3 with an estimated global incidence of a million cases a year.4 Second, they did a randomised trial of a therapeutic intervention for tetanus, which is rare-there have been only nine such trials for tetanus in the past 30 years.5 Third, they assessed an inexpensive, easily available drug-magnesium sulphate-also a unique feature because too often randomised trials are industry-sponsored research of expensive agents that might be unavailable in some health-care systems. Magnesium sulphate is safe, and reduces the need to use other drugs to control tetanic muscle spasms and autonomic dysfunction: fewer courses of the benzodiazepine midazolam (given for severe spasms), of the curare-like drug pipecuronium, and of the calcium-channel blocker verapamil were given to patients allocated continuous infusions of magnesium sulphate than those allocated placebo.