Does she need a tetanus shot now? (X-Posted in Life w/ Babe)

[Whittliz]

My DD just put a totally rusty item in her mouth! We live in an apartment and she pulled off the little cap on the bottom of the toilet and put the whole thing in her mouth. It is totally rusted on the inside of the cap and on/around the screw on the toilet. I washed & scrubbed her mouth out with a washcloth and the cloth was stained brown! No vaccinations at all for us, but does this call for a tetanus shot?

She wasn't punctured, but I'm sure swallowing rusty material isn't good.

HELP! I'm a bit stressed!

[Yulia_R]

I would not worry about it one bit.

[1littlebit]

gross.. but i don't think i would worry about it. someone else might have more info.

[Marnica]

You absolutley do not need a tetanus shot!

My suggestion if for you to read up on tetnus so when these things happen (which they will!) you can feel confident in your no-vax status!

Tetanus spores are eveywhere (soil) rust in and of itself has nothing to do with tetanus. Rust became associated with tetnus because of rusty nails which are often found outside or buried in the dirt.

Tetanus thrives in deep puncture wounds or wounds where there is no oxegen. (wounds that do not bleed are often suspect)

She'll be fine

[Magali]

Yes to what everyone else said. Plus the vaccine isn't going to help at the time of injury. If you are really at risk for tetanus and unvaxed the tetanus immunoglobulin is what you need to consider...although IME doctors will use any opportunity to get you to vax for tetanus and may not even know about the TIG.

[ZoeyZoo]

If there was no puncture you're fine. There is no point to vax for this example since it takes weeks to form antibodies from the vax. As someone else said if it were really an issue you would need TIG which has antibodies already in it.

[peainthepod]

No, no shot necessary. Did she even injure herself? It's a myth that rust is more likely to cause tetanus, and without a deep, anaerobic puncture, burn, or crushing wound, the likelihood must be very close to zero. It's pretty gnarly that the cap came from the toilet, but children seem to have the most remarkable immune systems if we leave them alone. I wouldn't worry at all.

If anything she just got a little extra iron in her diet.

[Whittliz]

Thank you all for your insight....I actually feel a bit silly now. I have realized that I need to do a lot more reading. I felt like I learned a lot when I read a couple of vaccination book during our pregnancy, but I think after I decided to not vax, it all went out of my brain.

Will be re-reading my Aviva Romm book!