Trial of pyridoxine therapy for tetanus neonatorum.

Pyridoxine, a coenzyme in the production of gamma-amino-n-butyric acid, was added (100 mg per day) to conventional therapy for tetanus neonatorum in 20 infants who were graded according to prognosis and severity of spasms. Three infants died, for an overall mortality of 15%. All three were in prognostic group V; mortality in group V was 37.5%. Fifteen days after admission, 14 (70%) of the remaining 17 infants were free of spasms and three (15%) had only mild spasms. In comparison to other studies in which conventional therapy alone was used for tetanus neonatorum, the addition of pyridoxine appeared to decrease mortality and the duration of spasms.