Overview

Tetanus, also referred to as lockjaw, may be a bacterial infection characterized by muscle spasms. within the commonest type, the spasms begin within the jaw then reach the remainder of the body. Each spasm usually lasts a couple of minutes. Spasms occur frequently for 3 to four weeks. Some spasms could also be severe enough to fracture bones. Other symptoms of tetanus may include fever, sweating, headache, trouble swallowing, high vital sign , and a quick pulse . Onset of symptoms is usually three to twenty-one days following infection. Recovery may take months. About one-tenth of cases prove fatal.

Tetanus is caused by an infection with the bacterium Clostridium tetani, which is usually found in soil, saliva, dust, and manure. The bacteria generally enter through an opportunity within the skin like a cut or puncture wound by a contaminated object. They produce toxins that interfere with normal muscle contractions. Diagnosis is predicated on the presenting signs and symptoms. The disease doesn't spread between people.

Signs and symptoms

Tetanus often begins with mild spasms within the jaw muscles—also referred to as lockjaw or trismus. The spasms also can affect the facial muscles leading to an appearance called risus sardonicus. Chest, neck, back, abdominal muscles, and buttocks could also be affected. Back muscle spasms often cause arching, called opisthotonos. Sometimes the spasms affect muscles that help with breathing, which may cause breathing problems.

Prolonged muscular action causes sudden, powerful, and painful contractions of muscle groups, which is named "tetany". These episodes can cause fractures and muscle tears. Other symptoms include fever, headache, restlessness, irritability, feeding difficulties, breathing problems, burning sensation during urination, retentiveness and loss of stool control.

Even with treatment, about 10% of individuals who contract tetanus die. The deathrate is higher in unvaccinated people and other people over 60 years aged.

Ø  Incubation period

Ø  Generalized tetanus

Ø  Neonatal tetanus

Ø  Local tetanus

Ø  Cephalic tetanus

Cause

Tetanus is caused by the tetanus bacterium Clostridium tetani. Tetanus is a world ill health , as C. tetani endospores are ubiquitous. Endospores are often introduced into the body through a puncture wound (penetrating trauma). Due to C. tetani being an anaerobic bacterium, it and its endospores thrive in environments that lack oxygen, like a puncture wound.

The disease occurs almost exclusively in persons inadequately immunized. it's more common in hot, damp climates with soil rich in organic matter. Manure-treated soils may contain spores, as they're cosmopolitan within the intestines and feces of the many animals like horses, sheep, cattle, dogs, cats, rats, guinea pigs, and chickens. In agricultural areas, a big number of human adults may harbor the organism.

The spores also can be found on skin surfaces and in contaminated heroin. Heroin users, particularly those that inject the drug subcutaneously, appear to be at high risk of contracting tetanus. Rarely, tetanus are often contracted through surgical procedures, intramuscular injections, compound fractures, and dental infections. Animal bites can transmit tetanus.

Tetanus is usually related to rust, especially rusty nails. Although rust itself doesn't cause tetanus, objects that accumulate rust are often found outdoors or in places that harbor anaerobic bacteria. Additionally, the rough surface of rusty metal provides crevices for dirt containing C. tetani, while a nail affords a way to puncture skin and deliver endospores deep within the body at the location of the wound. An endospore may be a non-metabolizing survival structure that begins to metabolize and cause infection once in an adequate environment. Hence, stepping on a nail (rusty or not) may end in a tetanus infection, because the low-oxygen (anaerobic) environment may exist under the skin, and therefore the puncturing object can deliver endospores to an appropriate environment for growth. it's a standard misconception that rust itself is that the cause which a puncture from a rust-free nail isn't a risk.

Prevention

Unlike many infectious diseases, recovery from naturally acquired tetanus doesn't usually end in immunity to tetanus. this is often thanks to the acute potency of the tetanospasmin toxin. Tetanospasmin will likely be lethal before it'll provoke an immune reaction.

Tetanus are often prevented by vaccination with tetanus toxoid. The CDC recommends that adults receive a booster vaccine every ten years, and standard care practice in many places is to offer the booster to a person with a puncture wound who is uncertain of when he or she was last vaccinated, or if he or she has had fewer than three lifetime doses of the vaccine. The booster might not prevent a potentially fatal case of tetanus from the present wound, however, because it can take up to 2 weeks for tetanus antibodies to make.

In children under the age of seven, the tetanus vaccine is usually administered as a combined vaccine, DPT/DTaP vaccine, which also includes vaccines against diphtheria and pertussis. For adults and youngsters over seven, the Td vaccine (tetanus and diphtheria) or Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis) is usually used.

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