Tetanus WWYD?

[TwoPlusTwins]

DD (2) has not been vaxed. This morning she cut her chin on a tiled step. We closed it with butterfly bandages and it looks like it will heal fine but now I'm worried about Tetanus.

We do live on a ranch with horses and cows. I'm also worried because DH was freaking out and forgot to wash his hands before he put the first bandage on..

I HATE the thought of giving her a tetanus shot and from what I've read tetanus is pretty rare... OTOH I'm worried.

What would you do? Thanks for any advice...

[PinkinPA]

I don't think you would need the shot, you would need the immunoglobulin for tetnus. Maybe someone has more info than I do right now as far as the specifics on tetnus itself.

[KoalaMommy]

prophylactic vaccination doesn't work. The reason they give you a tetanus shot at the ER when you go in with a wound is because they have your attention. I would just arm yourself with knowledge of the symptoms. Tetanus is treatable with antibiotics.

[candipooh]

Yes Pinkin is right. The tetanus shot is given so the body will build antibodies to tetanus. It is for future cuts. Present cuts you would need to the immunoglobulin tetanus shot. It is a shot of the antibodies.

Even health care workers have forgotten that. I went in with my daughter who had a dog bite. They wanted to give her the tetanus shot but I refused (at first) there were TICKED! They did not mention the immunoglobulin at all. I had to mention it. They thought I was crazy until I explained myself. Then they treated my like crap because they felt weird that I knew more than them. I had to be the one to call around to locate a shot of the immunoglobulin. I called hospitals, health clinics and finally I found one lonely shot located at the pharmacy of the Dam* clinic that I had just been at. . So my daughter got that one.

Later I read up more on tetanus and wish I hadn't even had gotten that.

Tetanus can live anywhere. Horse poop plus plus plus. It is not uncommon. But it is uncommon for a human to catch it. If it is close to oxygen it will die. If the wound is deep and was bleeding a lot then it is highly unlikely that tetanus is trapped far enough in that the oxygen can't get to it. So no matter how dirty your hubby's hands, were unless he shoved his finger way deep into the cut and quickly stopped the bleeding from pushing whatever was on his hands out, then it would stand to reason that the odds are defiantly in favor of no tetanus.

[Marnica]

Did the wound bleed?
I would keep it clean and not worry about it.

[TwoPlusTwins]

Thank you all so much! I did a bunch of reading on here and feel SO much better. The wound was not deep and did bleed well. We will keep an eye on her of course but I'm no longer worried. This place is the best!