is there a tetanus only vax available for young children?

[bluedaisy]

My 13 month old dd is unvaxed but we're spending 3 months in nairobi, kenya next year so i'm researching all of the vaxes to see if we will give her any.

one disease that i'm worried about is tetanus - in nairobi, there are a lot of cows, goats, chicken, etc that roam freely and the compound where we are staying does have cows, so I feel like there is some likelihood that she could get a cut that would be infected with animal feces.

i'm reading ava jill romm's book and she says tetanus can occur with a minor injury, and she seems to think this vax is one worth getting because the disease is so serious and the vax is not very reactive.

is it possible to get a tetanus only shot for my dd?

there were only 30 cases of tetanus in Kenya, but most of the children are vaxed against it so the low numbers may be a reflection of the high vax rates and not the fact that tetanus isnt present...since it's not a disease that is passed from person to person, the low number of cases don't really reassure me.

[bluedaisy]

I was just trying to google TT vaxes and the one I found has both aluminum and mercury...ugh...

[Marnica]

Tetanus is more about improper wound care.....This is def one I would NOT consider if I were in your shoes. Yes it is a risk, but I think the risk of your 13 month old getting tetanus is MUCH smaller than ther risk of injecting the TT full of mercury and aluminum into her tiny body. I thought the TT was only for kids over 7 but I may be wrong

[bluedaisy]

I thought the TT was only for kids over 7 but I may be wrong

I thought this too, I was trying to find info on that but couldn't find any...although I did notice that there were VAERS reports for all age groups, so I'm guessing it's given to all age groups. there were very few reactions reported in the 1-2 age group, but i'm guessing that is becuase it is not commonly given to that age group since the majority of children get the Dtap.

The DT is another option, which i would rather do than Dtap, but DT has tons of reactions reported also.

I wasn't too concerned about tetanus until I read Aviva Jill Romm's section on tetanus where she seems to imply that the risk of tetanus is worse than the risks of the vax

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by bluedaisy

I thought this too, I was trying to find info on that but couldn't find any...although I did notice that there were VAERS reports for all age groups, so I'm guessing it's given to all age groups. there were very few reactions reported in the 1-2 age group, but i'm guessing that is becuase it is not commonly given to that age group since the majority of children get the Dtap.

The DT is another option, which i would rather do than Dtap, but DT has tons of reactions reported also.

I wasn't too concerned about tetanus until I read Aviva Jill Romm's section on tetanus where she seems to imply that the risk of tetanus is worse than the risks of the vax

I think the risk of tetanus is high if contracted...with proper wound care the risk of contracting tetanus is very small,thus making the risk of the vax higher than the risk of CONTRACTING tetanus.

This one is for kids under 7 - http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Biologi.../UCM142732.pdf

This one is also for 7 yo only and is only indicated for boosters
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Biologi.../UCM166873.pdf

I believe you can get pediatric TD shots for kids under 7.

[writteninkursive]

Originally Posted by Marnica

Tetanus is more about improper wound care.....This is def one I would NOT consider if I were in your shoes. Yes it is a risk, but I think the risk of your 13 month old getting tetanus is MUCH smaller than ther risk of injecting the TT full of mercury and aluminum into her tiny body. I thought the TT was only for kids over 7 but I may be wrong

You can always get a tetanus shot AFTER a wound that looks suspicious. There's evidence that the body doesn't build immunity to tetanus anyway - naturally or otherwise, since it's not really a disease but an infection caused by deep penetration wounds that don't receive oxygen. The chances of that happening are slim, and with an option to treat it if and after it does occur, it seems kind of pointless to get a "vaccine" for that.

[bluedaisy]

You can always get a tetanus shot AFTER a wound that looks suspicious. There's evidence that the body doesn't build immunity to tetanus anyway - naturally or otherwise, since it's not really a disease but an infection caused by deep penetration wounds that don't receive oxygen.

I had been reading over some threads on here about tetanus and I thought that giving the vax after the fact wouldn't do anything unless the child had already had a previous tetanus shot?

Thanks for the response, writtenincursive - do you have any links about the immunity for tetanus? That would definitely influence my decision about this vax

Another option is to get the DT vax, because I am slightly concerned about diptheria too, althuogh there are not too many cases in Kenya anymore.

But I think the DT vax is pretty reactive too...

[writteninkursive]

Originally Posted by bluedaisy

I had been reading over some threads on here about tetanus and I thought that giving the vax after the fact wouldn't do anything unless the child had already had a previous tetanus shot?

Thanks for the response, writtenincursive - do you have any links about the immunity for tetanus? That would definitely influence my decision about this vax

Another option is to get the DT vax, because I am slightly concerned about diptheria too, althuogh there are not too many cases in Kenya anymore.

But I think the DT vax is pretty reactive too...

Well, as a kid, my sister fell into a culvert pipe and cut the heck out of her leg. They took her to the doctor and gave her a tetanus shot immediately. Maybe it was ineffective as an after-the-fact measure, but that's how it works in practice.

Incidentally, I came across a CDC study saying that Kenyan people have natural immunity to Diptheria, because Diptheria is a bacteria that only affects you once you have a virus on top of it. The proper treatment for Diptheria is interferon infusion, since the lack of interferons are what makes it dangerous. People who die from Diptheria are immune-compromised individuals.

"Tetanus was very rare prior to the introduction of the Tetanus vaccine. The decline of Tetanus, prior and post-vaccination, is attributed to proper wound management and sanitary conditions, not the vaccine. If no vaccine were developed, those few hundred cases would have declined regardless. Tetanus facts: 1) A wound that bleeds can not grow tetanus. 2) Tetanus vaccine creates no reaction in the body for 3 weeks, yet Tetanus grows within 10 days (although never in a wound that bleeds). 3) The body can not build immunities to the poison or the vaccine. 4) Children do not get Tetanus. Their fresh circulatory systems quickly remove the toxins from the body, with the exception being in Africa, where umbilical stumps are routinely covered with mud. 5) When a person gets Tetanus from a wound and recovers, he is not immune. A person can get Tetanus repeatedly if the conditions are right. When there is a real threat of Tetanus, the immune globulin can be given (blood/fluids that already contain the antibodies to Tetanus). A study of unvaccinated Amish serological evidence of immunity to both Tetanus and Diptheria.

The DTaP vaccine is associated with same kind of brain inflammation and central nervous system complications as the whole-cell DTP vaccine, the same contraindications that were in force with the DTP vaccine are also applicable to the DTaP vaccine. Signs of brain inflammation within 7 days of DTP or DTaP vaccine include highfever, high-pitched screaming, irritability, prolonged crying, drowsiness, vomiting, seizures, collapse, unresponsiveness, followed by immediate frank regression or progressive changes in mental, emotional, and physical health. Death, or a diagnosis of mental retardation, seizure disorders, learning disabilities, ADD, autism, and other chronic neurological and health problems often follows. DTaP contains both mercury and aluminum - both neurotoxins that enter the brain when injected as a vaccine adjuvent. The amount of aluminum in a single vaccine dose is sufficient to alter gene expression in the brain. These are things that will manifest adversely in the long-term; they are not included in the parameters of the vaccine safety studies that monitor only short-term effects.

Dr. Mendelsohn, MD - New England Medical Journal, Journal of the American Medical Association - British National Childhood Encephalopathy Study (1993), IOM (1994), VAERS

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by bluedaisy

I had been reading over some threads on here about tetanus and I thought that giving the vax after the fact wouldn't do anything unless the child had already had a previous tetanus shot?

Thanks for the response, writtenincursive - do you have any links about the immunity for tetanus? That would definitely influence my decision about this vax

Another option is to get the DT vax, because I am slightly concerned about diptheria too, althuogh there are not too many cases in Kenya anymore.

But I think the DT vax is pretty reactive too...

Giving the DT or DTAP or TT vax after the fact would be pointless as it takes up to 2 weeks to create antibodies. They are referring to the TIG shot.

[LisaLove]

I can't seem to find a past issue that notes the name of the vaccine manufacturer for the tetanus only vaccine. It was noted in the Letters to the Editor? It gave contact info and a suggestion for adjusting dosage for children under age 7?
Can anyone remember what month that issue was? Thanks for help!