St Kilda, the neonatal tetanus tragedy of the nineteenth century and some twenty-first century answers

Abstract

Neonatal tetanus was the cause of death of two thirds of newborn babies on the archipelago of St Kilda in the Outer Hebrides for at least 150 years. This was a major factor in the community becoming non-viable. While the cause of the tetanus infections has never been clearly established, modern bacteriological evidence suggests an alternative source of infection to the previously established theory.