TETANUS: Causes, Symptoms, Prevention, Treatment of TETANUS

Summer vacations are here and for the kids, it can mean playground injuries and even tetanus. Here’s how to understand and treat this condition..

The moment a child (or even an adult, for that matter) gets a cut or a wound, we start to worry about tetanus. This is especially true if the injury has been caused by a rusted, metal object. But is it enough to rush to the doctor, and take a tetanus shot? Or should we follow some regular schedule to protect ourselves from this disease? Let take a look at the disease and how to prevent it.

WHAT IS TETANUS?

Tetanus is a bacterial disease, caused by an organism called Clostridium Tetanus. This organism is present everywhere in the atmosphere, especially in the soil. When we get an open would, this organism can enter the wound. After entering the wound, this organism multiplies, and soon starts to release a toxin called tetanospasmin. This toxin acts on the nerves and the muscles of the body, making them contract abnormally, and producing spasms. With more and more muscle contractions and spasms, the normal functions of the body, including breathing become difficult, and unless treated, even death can occur.

HOW CAN ONE GET TETANUS?

Tetanus normally occurs through open and contaminated wounds, as discussed above. These include automobile accidents, sports injuries, injections with contaminated needles, using rusted razor blades, cuts, especially with rusted objects etc. Over and above this, tetanus can also occur following recurrent ear infections, after childbirth, from unknown causes and in newborns, following unhealthy and unhygienic cord clamping procedures. The commonest cause is from contaminated wounds.

PREVENTION OF TETANUS

Tetanus is one hundred percent preventable by vaccination. All children are administered the tetanus vaccine, as part of the triple (DTP) vaccination schedule. The vaccination schedule includes 3 primary doses after birth, a booster at one and half years, and three others at the age of five, ten and sixteen. After this, a booster is supposed to be taken every 5 years, life long. If one were to follow this schedule seriously, then there is no need to rush to the doctor, every time you get a wound, as you would continue to remain immune, in between vaccinations.

The vaccine against Tetanus is called the Tetanus Toxoid (TT). The vaccine is manufactured from the toxin of the Tetanus bacteria, after rendering it incapable of causing disease, but capable of stimulating our immune system to produce antibodies against the disease. Children are the only ones among us who are completely protected, due to their vaccination schedules. Adults, after the age of sixteen, tend to ignore the schedule, and take an injection randomly, only when they get hurt. This really may not impart the necessary immunity to fight the disease. Even for adults, it is advisable to take a full course of three vaccinations, followed by boosters, if a long time has passed from the last tetanus injection.

Also, cleaning and disinfecting a wound, with water and an antiseptic solution helps to get the area rid of germs. In persons with severe, unclean wounds, along with the TT injection, a dose of antitetanus immunoglobulin may also be required. The same immunoglobulin is also used to treat those who develop the disease.

TREATMENT TETANUS

Once a person is diagnosed with tetanus, he or she has to be hospitalised. These people are given the immunoglobulin, and kept deeply sedated, to prevent spasms. Those who cannot breathe are given assisted ventilation, with the help of a respirator. More that fifty percent of cases of tetanus find it difficult to survive, and mortality is quite high. And when newborn children get tetanus, the survival is near zero.

FINAL WORD

Don’t take tetanus lightly. If you haven’t had a shot in a long time, consult your doctor, and start off on a course of injections, as advised by him.