Causes of tetanus

Tetanus - Overwiev

When a bacterium that lives in the soil enters the wound, a disease named tetanus occurs. This disease was discovered by S. Kitasito, who also developed vaccine against tetanus. Bacteria that enter the wound multiply creating a very strong poison that influences our muscles. One can find tetanus spores all around us, in the soil, dust and animal waste, and in most cases, tetanus spores enter the wounds that are made with rusty nails or any other rusty sharp thing, burns, breaks in the skin, splinters or bites from insects. Tetanus is not a contagious disease and symptoms that indicate the presence of tetanus are muscle spasms that can’t be controlled. This disease is sometime called ''a lock jaw'', because those muscle spasms can lead to locking your jaw, and being unable to open it again.

The toxin that is in tetanus bacteria is called tetanospasmin, and it is the one to be blame for tetanus occurring in our body. The United States have a very good programme regarding immunization and wound care, and because of that, only 40-50 people each year gets infected with tetanus. The completely different situation is in countries that are on the other continents (Africa, Asia and South America, for example). Statistics say that every year between a half and one million of people get tetanus in the Third World Countries.

Types of Tetanus

There are four different types of tetanus that may occur. The first type is called generalized tetanus and it affects skeletal muscles. This type occurs in most cases and it is the worst of all the tetanus types. Local tetanus is characterized by local spasms that occur near the wound. Cephalic tetanus is present when spasm appears on one or more muscles on the face, and it can easily lead to general tetanus. Neonatal tetanus is a tetanus type that only develops in small babies that are less than one month old. Not so many babies have neonatal tetanus in modern world.

Causes of Tetanus

Causes for tetanus development in our body are found in the environment that surrounds us. Bacteria can enter the wound on our body through puncture wound, cut or a scrape, frostbite, surgery, crush wound, abscesses, childbirth,and whole on our skin used for IV needles. If one wants to protect from tetanus, he can easily and without any pain get immunized in order to avoid this unpleasant condition.