When is tetanus needed?

First understand what is tetanus?

The bacterium that causes tetanus is a type of bacteria called Clostridium sporogenes, which is found in soil, feces and dust. When your skin is broken, bacteria can enter the wound and infect your body.

The tetanus vaccine prevents this disease from occurring. If your tetanus shot is not up to date and you have an injury that breaks your skin, your doctor may recommend a tetanus shot. The tetanus vaccine protects you from infection by stimulating your immune system to produce antibodies to fight the tetanus bacteria.

Tetanus can cause muscle spasms and stiffness, especially apical rigidity, which can affect your breathing and swallowing. This is a serious disease that can be life-threatening if left untreated. Therefore, it is important to keep your tetanus vaccine up to date at the time of injury to protect yourself from the threat of tetanus.

How to tell if your wound is due to tetanus?

1. Rusty things pierce the skin. Rusted things corrode due to oxidation. After rust corrodes, it is easy for Tetanus bacilli to hide in the corrosion circle and grow easily in an oxygen-free environment.

2. Skin punctured by rotten grass. Tetanus bacilli tend to hide in rotten grass and grow in an oxygen-free environment.

3. Dirt and soil can pierce the skin. Tetanus bacillus easily survives in sludge and grows in an oxygen-free environment.

4. Animal bites. After an animal bites, the wound is easily infected with Tetanus bacteria and grows in an oxygen-free environment.

How to treat?

Once tetanus occurs, it is very harmful and difficult to treat. It is easy to be misdiagnosed in the early stage and may lead to death in severe cases. Therefore, prevention of tetanus is important. The method of prevention is to vaccinate against tetanus in time to prevent the onset of tetanus. rate decreases.

If you have a tetanus-prone wound and have been fully vaccinated against tetanus, your doctor may also consider giving you additional tetanus immune globulin therapy. This is because the tetanus vaccine takes time to establish sufficient immune protection, and the protective effect after vaccination will weaken over time.

High-risk wounds include wounds that require surgery but cannot be performed within 24 hours, wounds or burns where a large amount of tissue has been removed, puncture wounds after contact with soil or feces, wounds containing substances that should not be present, severe fractures, etc.

Tetanus immune globulin is an antibody-containing medicine that provides immediate, short-term protection against tetanus. It prevents the effects of tetanus toxin on the nerves.

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Editor: kiki Jia

Date: December 8 , 2023