Tetanus is a potentially deadly disease that is caused by the Clostridium tetani bacterium. Tetanus is found worldwide and is a very preventable disease. The ability to protect ourselves from Tetanus by following a proper vaccination schedule has greatly reduced the number of yearly reported cases. Tetanus has a devastating effect on the neurons, causing an infected individual to usually experience very painful involuntary symptoms that may result in death if left untreated. My interest in knowing more about the causes and effects of Tetanus stemmed from a traumatic injury a patient at Ocala Regional Medical Hospital received. The injury occurred while preforming an activity that many of us regularly participate in, mowing of her lawn. Tetanus is not normally a pathology that is shown within the diagnostic modalities. Diagnostic imaging is very useful to diagnose the location of a known or unknown penetrating metallic object in a patient. A Tetanus infection may stem from a contaminated unknown object, which was in the case of the patient profiled in this report.
Deadly diseases, such as Tetanus are still found in our modern society. Most correlate the act of stepping on a rusty nail with Tetanus. Truthfully large or even very small open wounds may present an opportunistic
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Tetanus is a highly preventable disease if a simple vaccination schedule is followed starting at birth. The vaccination for Tetanus was originally developed in the 1920’s and become a normal part of childhood vaccinations after World War II. DTap is the recommended vaccine for infants; it is a three in one vaccine, containing Tetanus, Pertussis, and diphtheria (Conrad, 2014). After the initial vaccination, a booster at the age of 7 is recommended, then every seven years after the age of 19 with the Td vaccination (Vyas,
In 1865 before an operation, he cleansed a leg wound first with carbolic acid, and performed the surgery with sterilized (by heat) instruments. The wound healed, and the patient survived. Prior to surgery, the patient would need an amputation. However, by incorporating these antiseptic procedures in all of his surgeries, he decreased postoperative deaths. The use of antiseptics eventually helped reduce bacterial infection not only in surgery but also in childbirth and in the treatment of battle wounds.
Medical science had not yet discovered the importance of antiseptics in preventing infection. Water was contaminated and soldiers sometimes ate unripened or spoiled food. There weren’t always clean rags available to clean wounds. Because of frequent shortages of water, surgeons often went days without washing their hands or instruments. So now germs were passing from patient to patient.
North American children are now the most vaccinated on earth. Children receive about thirty-three doses of ten vaccinations by the age of five years. Not only do children need a separate vaccine for most diseases (hepatitis B, polio, Hib, and chicken pox are single vaccines; DTaP and MMR are multiple) but they generally need more than one dose of each vaccine. Because of the many vaccines needed, vaccination is an extremely controversial topic in the United States Today. Whatever side of the aisle you may fall with regard to your opinion about vaccination, one thing is for certain: the choice to vaccinate or not is a decision that has the potential to greatly impact the health of you and most importantly, your children for the rest of their lives.
Tetanus: acute infectious disease of the central nervous system caused by the toxins of Clostridium Tetani.
When diagnosed a physician will sterilize the wound. If the Tetanus is already severe the patient will become hypersensitive and must be kept in a quite dark room. At this stage the doctors can only treat the symptoms, with muscle relaxants, antibiotics, and sedatives. The most important treatment for Tetanus is prevention, through a vaccine.
Tetanus is a bacteria that causes very rare fatal disease that people sometimes called lockjaw, they call it lockjaw because it is a tightness in the jaw. Not many people know what Tetanus is because it is so rare. The bacteria that Tetanus comes from is very good at duplicating itself; also, Tetanus has many layers to protect themselves which makes it hard to cure when you get it. You can cure it by washing out the cut right when you get it or getting it vaccinated.
Tetanus is one of the earliest recognized diseases and was known and described by Hippocrates in the 6th century B.C. (Gibbons et. al, 1970) In 1844 scientist were able to produce tetanus in a rabbit. They had taken material from a human that died from the disease and injected into the rabbit. (Jensen et. al, 1973) Soon after the disease was produced in guinea pigs, mice and rats, this was accomplished by inoculating them with garden soil. (Gibbons et. al, 1970) It was not until 1889 that Clostridium tetani was cultured.
There was a struggle to find antiseptics to fight off infections, gunshot wounds, and for
In my case study I was presented with a patient 58-year old patient who upon physical examination presented signs & symptoms of headaches, irritability, generalized muscle pain and very tight contractions and uncontrollable back spasms. Further assessing this patient, it was discovered that he previously injured himself by puncturing his left arm with a nail from and old barn he was tearing. The puncture wound has produced moderate quantities of pus, but it has not been kept clean. According to the patients’ immunization records a tetanus vaccination has not been administered to him since he was a child. With this patient producing these types of signs and symptoms as well as his immunization records for tetanus vaccination and boosters are
A child’s immune system does not fully develop until about five years old (McMillan, Jane Sheppard) yet, children are bombarded with multiple vaccines such as five doses of DTap
Today’s day and age it is extremely important that adults, teens, and children get vaccinated. Getting vaccinated can reduce the risk of contracting a communicable disease. This makes it very important to get vaccinated because reducing the risk of contracting a communicable disease could be the difference between actually contracting the disease or not. It is important to get vaccinated because you reduce the risk of contracting certain communicable diseases, reduce the risk of people around you contracting some communicable diseases, and encourage others to be vaccinated.
Mumps, also known as parotitis, is a infectious disease discovered by Ernest William Goodpasture and Claude D. Johnson in 1934. Symptoms may be swollen and painful salivary glands, a fever, headache, fatigue, and appetite loss (Mayo Clinic). This disease started off affecting the armies during their mobilization. More than 50% of soldiers during WW1 were hospitalized for the infectious disease. During this time they didn’t have a vaccine, which means it infected the body more seriously than it does now. It used to cause hearing loss and even deafness (wasn't as common). The mumps infection sometimes lead to meningitis to most men.
Tetanus is a fairly rare disease however high exposure to the ground with open wounds or contact with rusted objects on the ground that could cause lacerations may also transmit the disease. The most common vector for transmission is sharp objects that have been lying around on the ground for a while. Tetanus is easily contracted with large laceration or puncture that may come in contact with the wound; this will dramatically increase your possibility to get Tetanus.
Prevention from bleeding requires a person to use common sense and keep knives and sharp objects away from small children. Keeping your vaccinations up to date is another method of prevention. Generally, the tetanus immunization is renewed every 10 years.
Our approach in managing wounds was far from being optimal in our own setting. After having read the article of Sibbald et al (1) and assisting to presentations during the first residential week-end, our approach at St. Mary 's Hospital Center 's Family Medicine Clinic must change. We were not classifying wounds as healable, maintenance or non-healable. We were always considering the wounds in our practice as healable despite considering the system 's restraints or the patients ' preferences. In the following lines, I will define and summarize the methods one should use in order to initial management of wounds and how to integrate it better to our site. The first goal we need to set is to determine its ability to heal. In order to ascertain if a wound is healable, maintenance or a non-healable wound.