The disease symptoms begins with painful spasms of the jaw muscles, made worse by attempts to open the mouth. Hence the old name for tetanus was 'lock jaw'. Muscles spasms spread to involve the whole body, and the patient develops extremely painful tetanic paroxysms, in which consciousness is retained. Paroxysms occur both spontaneously and in response to external stimulus, such as gentle touch, light, moving the bed, attempts by the patient to swallow or speak.
If there are many paroxysms, death is likely within a few days. In favourable cases there are few paroxysms and they gradually diminish in number. Treatment is with penicillin, antitetanus serum (ATS), sedatives, and muscle relaxants and, perhaps, assisted breathing.
Cause. A bacterium called Clostridium tetani.
Tetanus Source. The dung cattle contains the bacteria in large numbers. As it is spore-forming, it can live in the earth for long periods, so almost all cultivated soil contains it, which don't usually show up symptoms.
Tetanus Symptoms Disease Route
Tetanus obtains entry to the body in two ways:1. Through cuts, wounds, and grazes, even very small ones, when they are not thoroughly cleaned. There need be no other obvious infection, and the cut may have healed before the tetanus begins.
2. Through the umbilical stump of newborn babies. This is likely to happen when the stump is not cut in a clean way or kept clean. In those communities where it is traditional to put on the stump some form of paste containing earth or crowdung, then tetanus of the newborn accounts for a considerable proportion of all neonatal mortality.
Tetanus Symptoms Susceptibles
1. The newborn, if the mother who was not immunized is mostly in danger of infecting tetanus disease having a quick symptoms.2. Any non-immune.
Tetanus Symptoms Prevention
As treatment of tetanus is still unsuccessful in about half of all cases, prevention is extremely important.1. There is a vaccine called tetanus toxoid (which most not be confused with antitetanus serum or ATS). This tetanus toxoid vaccine is available by itself, or if incorporated in triple vaccine is cheap. Three injections confer an immunity which can last for a long time but which is best boosted periodically. It is therefore obvious that the more widely tetanus toxoid is given, the less tetanus there will be.
2. Cleanliness in dealing with cuts and grazes in the home, and thorough cleaning of wounds at dispensaries and hospitals, can also help to reduce the symptoms of the disease. It was once customary to give 1500 units of ATS to all patients with dirty wounds, but this practice is falling out of favour, being both expensive and dangerous in some cases, and also by far inferior to active immunization with tetanus toxoid. If a person with a wound has previously been immunized, then all he needs is a booster of toxoid.
3. Neonatal tetanus can be prevented by proper care of the umbilical stump.
4. Where this is impossible because of inadequate maternity services, mothers at antenatal clinics in areas where there is tetanus, should be given two or three shots of tetanus toxoid (or two if it has an aluminium adjuvant), and the baby will half sufficient antibodies to make tetanus impossible.
