Tetanus is a serious bacterial disease that leads to stiffness of your jaw muscles and other muscles. It can cause severe muscle spasms, make breathing difficult and, ultimately, threaten your life.A cut, puncture wound, laceration or other wound can lead to a tetanus infection and toxin production if you don’t have immunity.
Acute disease caused by the toxin of the bacillus Clostridium tetani, which usually enters the body through a wound. The bacterium is chiefly found in richly manured soil.
Symptoms of Tetnus
In some cases, symptoms will develop in the absence of any cut or wound that you can recall. In addition, you may notice restlessness, lack of appetite and drooling.
Stiffness of the neck, jaw, and other muscles, often accompanied by a grotesque, grinning expression.
Sometimes, the first and only sign of tetanus is a spasm of the muscles nearest to the infected wound. However, once the toxin gets into your bloodstream, other symptoms start, usually in the face.
typical symptoms of tetanus: Symptoms may begin after as few as three days and as many as 21 days after exposure to C. tetani, but eight days after initial exposure to the bacteria is the average time before symptoms develop.
Causes of tetnus
The bacteria that cause tetanus, Clostridium tetani, are found in soil, dust and animal feces. When they enter a deep flesh wound, spores of the bacteria may produce a powerful toxin, tetanospasmin, which acts on various areas of your nervous system.
Cuts that have not been thoroughly cleaned are the major source of infection. But the disease can be transmitted in other ways also, such as animal scratches and bites, surgical wounds, and dental work.
Local tetanus is an uncommon form of the disease, in which patients have persistent contraction of muscles in the same anatomic area as the injury. The contractions may persist for many weeks before gradually subsiding. Local tetanus is generally milder; only about 1% of cases are fatal, but it may precede the onset of generalized tetanus.
Treatments of Tetnus
Self-Care at Home
All open wounds are at risk to get tetanus . Wounds from objects outdoors or crush injuries are at higher risk.
Medical Treatment
Ventilator support to help with breathing in the event of spasms of the vocal cords or the respiratory muscles
Healing
After an abrasion, the layers of damaged skin will heal from the deeper layers to the surface layers and from the outer edges to the center. As healing begins, the area of the abrasion may look pink and raw, but in time the wound will form new skin that is pink and smooth.
Tetanus immune globulin (TIG) is recommended for persons with tetanus. TIG can only help remove unbound tetanus toxin. It cannot effect toxin bound to nerve endings. A singleintramuscular dose of 3000 to 5000 units is generally recommended for children and adults, with part of the dose infiltrated around the wound if it can be identified.
