Medical Definition of Tetanus-

Tetanus is a fatal disease that affects the central nervous system or the CNS by causing muscular contractions that are quite painful. The word tetanus is derived from the Greek word that tetanus-“taut” that means, “to stretch”. The onset of tetanus usually occurs when the tetanus bacteria enter the body through wound or cut exposed to the soil. This bacterium is known as Clostridium tetani, whose spores are found in the dormant form in the soil, dust or in animal/human feces. These spores then develop or sprout within the human body and then producing neurotoxins in the blood that spread to the Central Nervous System. This infection spreads quickly through the deep scratches, cuts or wounds that are not cleaned properly. The fomented period of this bacterium is usually about eight days or may be up to several months. The most common types of tetanus to be found among the inflicted patients are the Generalized Tetanus that represents about eighty percent of all patient cases. At present, there are no blood tests to diagnose the symptoms of tetanus and tetanus is only diagnosed by the clinical symptoms and through medical history showing non-immunization from tetanus. Therefore, it is important to diagnose the occurrence of tetanus and immediately starting the treatment to recover from this disease.

 History of Tetanus-

The ancient people found a close link between the wounds and the deadly spasms of the muscle -recognized tetanus as an infectious disease. The first persons to isolate the toxin of Strychnine nature of tetanus from anaerobic soil bacteria that is lively is by Arthur Nicolaier in the year-1884. Later on Giorgio Rattone and Antonio Carle and further clarified the causation of the tetanus disease in the same year by exhibiting the first times the transmissibility of the tetanus. Similarly, credit goes to Kitasato Shibasaburo who isolated the C. tetani bacterium in the year- 1889 and who thereafter exhibited that this organism can produce the disease when put in into the animals and these toxins can be made ineffective by the particular antibodies. In the year-1924- P. Descombey developed Tetanus toxoid vaccine that was used mostly to prevent tetanus due to battled wounds at the time of the Second World War.

How do you get tetanus?

Tetanus is a dangerous disease of life threatening nature and requires immediate hospitalization commonly in an Intensive Care Unit or ICU. The treatment of tetanus usually takes several weeks that includes taking antibiotics to kill the bacteria and shots of antitoxins to neutralize the toxin. The first symptom of tetanus occurs in the form of locked or stiff jaw that prevents the patient from opening or swallowing of the mouth. It has been assumed that around thirty percent of the tetanus victims in the United States die due to tetanus. In case of neonatal tetanus, the mortality rate is over ninety percent. Tetanus is caused by the Clostridium tetani bacterium and a person can get tetanus when this bacterium enters the human body through skin lesions in the form of cuts or puncture wounds. The other factors responsible for developing tetanus infection due to this bacterium are:

• Skin burns,
• Biting of animals,
• Injecting drugs through unhygienic needles,
• Circumcision,
• Lacerations and abrasions,
• Piercing of human body for inscribing tattoos through unsterilized needles,
• Neonatal tetanus can occur in newborns through an infection of the umbilical stump that is not healed especially if the stump is scurried with unsterilized instrument and is quite common in developing countries. The risk of this type of tetanus is also there if the mother has never been immunized for tetanus.
• Cephalic tetanus is also a rare form of disease that occurs rarely with ear infection where Clostridium tetani bacteria are present in the middle of the ear. Any head injuries may also result in this type of tetanus infection that may prove deadly.