Introduction: The disease Tetanus is also known as the “lock jaw” or “rusty nail” disease. The word Tetanus derives from the Greek word Tetanus with means to stretch. Tetanus was discovered in 1884 by Carle and Rattonem and later in 1889 Kitsato isolated the organism, to ultimately prove that a disease was made when injected into an animal. Tetanus is an infection that creates the bacteria Clostridum tetani. The bacterium produces a toxin which can harm the nervous system and the brain. Excessive muscle spasms also come along with the disease, and these occur most often in the neck and jaw area.
The spasms in the eck and jaw area can lead to respiratory issues. There is a lot of information you should know about Tetanus in order to remain free from this fatal disease. Characteristics: Tetanus has many microbial characteristics which help distinguish it to help make it easy to recognize. First, Clostridium tetani is anaerobic which means that its living conditions are absent of air of free of oxygen. C. tetani is rod shaped and spore forming. As a young culture C. tetani will stain gram positive but as it matures it will stain gram negative. Tetanus can be very fatal in infants and the elderly, especially if not treated right away.
Virulence Factors: C. tetani produces two exotoxins, tetanolysin and tetanospasmin, which are encoded by plasmid born genes. Tetanospasmin is a neurotoxin that blocks the inhibitory nerve impulses by interfering with the release of neurotransmitters which in turn leads to a spastic paralysis. Disease Symptoms: Tetanus can come about at any time. The way Tetanus enters the body is through an open area such as a wound or puncture. The signs and symptoms may appear within days or weeks depending on how much bacteria gets into the wound. The signs and symptoms will appear in a certain order as well.
First, the jaw muscles become stiff and spasms occur. Next, the neck will also become stiff and suffer from muscles spasms and you may experience problems with swallowing. The fourth thing that will occur happens in the abdominal muscles, as they will begin to stiffen. Lastly, the whole body will have muscle spasms that can last minutes and cause extreme pain. Tetanus can also make it hard to tolerate light, sound, weather change, and feeling. Those are things that you can expect as Tetanus enters the body, but there are other things that will happen as well.
Some other symptoms that will occur are fever, sweating, elevated blood pressure, and rapid heart rate. The symptoms nd signs displayed here can occur in other diseases as well, but the first specific symptoms that happen in a certain order will more than likely make one aware they have Tetanus. Lastly, Tetanus is most detrimental when one faces respiratory and cardiovascular issues. Epidemiology: Tetanus occurs all over the world but is most prevalent in heavily populated areas with a rather humid climate. Tetanus also thrives in areas with a very rich soil, which is main place to find Tetanus.
Tetanus can also be found in the digestive tract of all animals. Tetanus is mainly caught due to an open and unprotected cut in the skin either big or small. A few examples of unprotected open skin include: surgery, burns, cuts, scrapes, animal bites and pregnancy. Tetanus however is not transferred from person to person and is the only vaccine-preventable disease that is not contagious. The morbidity rate for Tetanus is very minimal, somewhere around . 1 cases per 1million people. Even though Tetanus is very deadly if gone untreated, only about 13% of infected people actually die from the disease.
Diagnosis & Treatment: Diagnosing Tetanus is done by a doctor mainly doing a physical exam of the patient. The doctor will look at immunization records, signs and symptoms of muscle spasms nd exam the areas of muscle stiffness and pain. Normally lab tests are not concluded or helpful when trying to diagnose Tetanus. There is no complete cure for Tetanus but there are several things that can be done to relive pain or serve as comfort measur sures. First and foremost you want to make sure that you take care of your wounds, by cleaning them out to prevent the growth of Tetanus spores.
This includes removing dirt, foreign objects and dead tissue. There are a few medications that you can receive from your doctor as well, but keep in mind these will not cure the disease, only ease the symptoms. You can receive an antitoxin which will neutralize any toxins that hasn’t bonded to a nerve tissue. Antibiotics are also available which will fight the Tetanus bacteria. Once you have Tetanus, it doesn’t make you immune to the bacteria afterward, so you should receive the Tetanus vaccine to prevent any future infections.
Doctors will also sometimes give out strong sedatives to help control muscle spasms. Data & Data Analysis: Below you will find the data collected from the CDC website for Tetanus over the last five years. The data was collected every 4 weeks over the entire year. In the years 2010 – 2013 there was slight increase in the number of cases reported, however, from 2013 to 2014 the case numbers fell by a few. In general Tetanus is not very common in the United States, due to the majority of people being vaccinated against it.
The year 2010 saw only a total of 8 recorded cases of Tetanus with the first one not being recorded until the first week of July, with an average of 1 per month after that. 2011 saw a total of 9 recorded cases with the first case being reported mid-April. There was a small spike, 4 cases, reported at the end of August. 2012 was the worst month in the last 5 years with a total of 36 confirmed ases of Tetanus. There were no cases in 2012 until again mid- April when there were a total of 10 cases confirmed in a 4 week period.
The year of 2013 Started out with 2 reported cases right away in the first 4 weeks and 3 cases in the next 4 weeks. The highest number of cases in 2013 was reported at the end of November with a total number of cases being 4. 2013 ended the year with a total of 19 cases, almost have of the previous year! The most recent year recorded, 2014, again started with off with one case being reported within the first 4 weeks.
The peak number of cases this last year, with 4 cases, was in the eginning of July and the beginning of August. 2014 finished up the year with a total of 21 confirmed cases, just a hair over 2013. Summary & Conclusions: The disease Tetanus can be fairly easy to avoid is the right precautions are taken. Everyone should have received the Tetanus vaccination and have a booster every ten years to lessen the chance of ever acquiring this fatal disease. Tetanus most often occurs when open sores are not properly cared for and exposed to the virus. There are many possible sources to catch Tetanus including: dust, surgery, burns and infected animals, but the main source is located in soil.
If you do not take the proper safety precautions seriously and happen to catch Tetanus it can be fatal. Medical attention should be taken if you think you have been in contact with Tetanus or appear to have any of the signs/symptoms. The signs and symptoms will all take place in a certain cycle and as the disease progresses the worse the conditions will be, this is why you must seek medical attention right away! The treatment given by medical providers can not cure the disease but it will eliminate most of the pain and death. Tetanus can be avoided with a vaccination and boosters, but can be deadly if obtained.