Quick question

[mama2004]

My 19 month old ds is unvaxed and I plan to keep it that way at this point; the only vax I have given any consideration to is tetanus. So dh's family are farmers and we were visiting this weekend (still have a great grandma--Nana--to see!), and ran into my dh's uncle who told us he has lockjaw. Being the curious creature I am, I started to ask questions about what happened (poked in the hand with baling wire) and realized that his initial injury, which was minor, showed signs of infection and that's why he went to the doctor in the first place. I asked him about his last tetanus booster, he said 10 or 15 years ago, and I mumbled something about how they probably should have given him tetanus immonoglobulin instead of the vax, yadda, yadda, yadda, I don't really know, but the poor guy is feeling pretty miserable and is having trouble even speaking.
The question I have is this: I have been wondering about how tetanus manifests, and honestly, if it begins as signs of infection in a wound with some other more far reaching symptoms, I don't think it's that scary, is it? I mean, my one fear with something like diphtheria or tetanus is that I would miss the symptoms and therefore the opportunity to respond appropriately. Can someone shed a little light on how symptoms of tetanus generally manifest?
Thanks!

[Gitti]

Diphtheria and Tetanus are two completely different things.

Diphtheria is a sore throat and fever that could get very severe. Usually kids in refugee camps, alcoholics, or street people are prone to that. Not someone who is well fed and has a roof over their head.

Tetanus is a spore that has to get inside your body via a deep puncture wound. The wound has to close off so that it eliminates all oxygen from entering. Then the spores evolve, create a by-product which can cause a tetanus infection.

I do believe the first signs of tetanus is lockjaw.

Generally it is a disease of old people who have diabetes. They have poor blood circulation and therefor the body can not get oxygen to the wound. But we see very few people each year in the US who have tetanus.
Kids actually don't get tetanus. I have not seen any evidence that kids who are not subjected to ridiculous newborn rituals, get tetanus. So, you have to actually CAUSE it in a child.

Also, the vaccine that your uncle got 10 or 15 years ago should have protected him. It obviously is not working which I have read many times.


I would first of all give a pretty good dose of SA in case of a severe injury.

[mama2004]

Thanks, yes I understand that diphtheria and tetanus are two different things, and I am familiar with the disease process of diphtheria, not so much with tetanus, and the uncle in question has already been treated (n.b., he is neither elderly nor diabetic and is generally in good health).
The question I am asking is more about diagnosis/recognition of tetanus infection (pesky little anaerobes living everywhere!). Tetanus is the only vaccine that I might still give some consideration to, although I doubt it as I wouldn't commit to the necessary process of boosters. If signs of tetanus are fairly clear, however, after an injury, or there are clear and recognizable symptoms that precede a full blown assault by tetanus toxins, then I feel much more comfortable staying away from the vax with the knowledge that I could get access to treatment (presumably tetanus immunoglobulin). So the question is, how recognizable is a tetanus infection?

[lirpasirhc]

someone posted this in the other tetanus thread that came up yesterday. http://pediatrics.aappublications.or.../full/109/1/e2

i don't know much about how the disease progresses. apparently the kids were treated w/ IVs. that would make sense. there were no deaths. 20% of the cases were fully vaccinated. they say that not all cases of tetanus are recognized, so i'm assuming that the symptoms are sometimes mild.

i hope your cousin is feeling better soon. i think you were right about him needing TIG instead of the tetanus vax.

[mama2004]

Originally Posted by lirpasirhc

someone posted this in the other tetanus thread that came up yesterday. http://pediatrics.aappublications.or.../full/109/1/e2

i don't know much about how the disease progresses. apparently the kids were treated w/ IVs. that would make sense. there were no deaths. 20% of the cases were fully vaccinated. they say that not all cases of tetanus are recognized, so i'm assuming that the symptoms are sometimes mild.

i hope your cousin is feeling better soon. i think you were right about him needing TIG instead of the tetanus vax.

Thanks for the link, lirpasirhc. IIRC, immunoglobulin is the effective treatment for unvaxed or for folks who haven't had a tetanus shot within at least five years, so yeah, my poor uncle ended up with a tetanus shot and tetanus, since the shot didn't do much for him .
Interesting that the symptoms are mild enough to miss--my biggest concern with not vaxing is that I am responsible then for recognizing and starting treatment when or if a disease process starts, and for some reason, tetanus has always seemed like something really scary that starts out of nowhere and advances rapidly to a very serious state. It would seem that isn't necessarily the case.