Thread by @DrAtangwho

4 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT #TETANUS

1. Enters your body through wounds
2. Makes muscle contract painfully
3. Can kill in days if no treatment
4. No cure, so better to PROTECT YOURSELF!

A thread 🧵

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Tetanus is caused by a germ called Clostridium tetani.

This germ produces a dangerous #toxin that makes your muscles painfully contract on their own & become rigid.

This man had neck stiffness & lockjaw from tetanus;

Tetanus germ lives mainly inside the soil & animal feces. It lives there for years.

When it has a chance, it enter your body through:
- Wounds contaminated with soil or feces, or
- Punctures by nonsterile needles (like some injecting illegal drugs, tattooing or body piercing)

Sadly, sometimes the injury is so small that the person doesn't feel It.

So they don't go to see a doctor, & won't even remember when it happened.

Injuries that involve dead skin are more likely to cause tetanus e.g. burns, frostbite, gangrene, or crush injuries

Occasionally, tetanus occur when a woman's womb is damaged during an unsafe abortion or childbirth.

In some places, due to traditional beliefs, a newborn's umbilical stump is dressed with soil, animal dung, toothpaste, etc, which contaminate the stump causing #NeonatalTetanus.

Tetanus bacteria is tricky.

It produces #spores, which are inactive or dormant.

These spores enable it to survive when environmental conditions are difficult.

But as soon a conditions are favorable, the spores grow into bacteria.

Once inside your body, tetanus starts to produce toxins which travel throughout the body, stopping your #nerves from sending vital signals to other nerves & making your muscles to stiffen on their own.

Tetanus kills mainly by causing #asphyxia or sudden heart death.

Asphyxia is insufficient supply of oxygen to the body due to abnormal breathing.

That's why a tetanus patient might end up needing artificial ventilation to stay alive.

There's no cure for tetanus.

Treatment only consists of
- wound care
- medications to ease symptoms &
- supportive care

No definitive cure! So it's safer to stay protected.

How to prevent tetanus!

1. Take your 5 shots of tetanus toxoid or TT vaccines at 2, 4, 6, 15 to 18 months, & 4 to 6 years. Take a booster dose every 10 years

2. Dress your baby's umbilical cord with safer materials like chlorhexidine gel (not tooth paste, dung or soil)

3. Get medical attention if you have a deep & dirty would, esp if you're unsure of your last TT vaccine

4. Once you've stopped he bleeding, leave unclean wounds open to avoid trapping bacteria in the wound with a bandage.

5. Help educate others.

Do your best to update your tetanus immunization. You never can tell when you'll sustain an injury!

The key word is PREVENTION!

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Note:

Tetanus is vaccine-preventable i.e. it happens only to people who have not been vaccinated or don't have their vaccinations up to date.

Tetanus is infectious but not contagious meaning you won't contract it from someone who has the disease.