The unsusceptibility to the tetanus toxin is induct only by immunisation . The recovery of a clinical form of tetanus does not infer security against subsequent attacks since the amount of toxin that causes disease is much less than that required to rush immunity . Therefore , all tetanus patients should be immunized with lockjaw toxoid , either at diagnosis or during recuperation . The used vaccinum is tetanus toxoid , which has been shown to be useful and safe since its first production in 1929 . Tetanus anatoxin consists of toxin - treated with formaldehyde . Serum protective story of > 0.01 U.I / ml are reckon .
Is It OK to Get a Tetanus Shot Before 10 Years of Age?
lockjaw is a disease completely preventable by vaccination . The most effectual strategy to rule out neonatal tetanus is the immunization of pregnant char .
Since 1987 , the O.M.S , through the Expanded Program of Immunization , recommends immunisation with tetanus toxoid to all woman of childbearing age ; in previously unimmunized women , recommends the government activity of the first dose of lockjaw toxoid as presently as potential during pregnancy .
Another measure of ascendance of neonatal tetanus is hygienic recitation during childbirth and post - partum .
Pregnant women who were not previously vaccinate against lockjaw and diphtheria should receive two doses of dT spaced fittingly and conform to the usual pattern . Those who have received two pane must complete the elementary vaccination during pregnancy . fraught woman who have completed their master vaccination should receive dT booster dosage if ten or more age have passed since the last Cupid’s itch .
also , the inclusion of lockjaw inoculation in puerility immunization programs is recommend . The advocate inoculation regimen is : first three doses with DTP or DTPa at 2 - 3 month , 4 - 5 month and 6 - 7 month , a fourth pane with DTPa at 15 - 18 months and a 5th dose with DTPa at 4 to 6 class ; booster dose dose at 14 years with dT and recommend boosters every 10 years ( dT or dTpa ) .
Due to the austereness of this disease , the World Health Organization has recommended set forth the vaccination strategy from an early age . The cosmopolitan scheme of vaccination consists of a primary series of 3 or 4 dot , according to age , and a booster unit dose every 10 years , since antitoxin level decrease over time .
The seed responsible for the infection is Clostridium tetani , anaerobic bacillus , and spore - take shape microorganism . The bacillus is a natural inhabitant of the intestinal tract of brute such as horses , cow , sheep , bounder , squealer , chickens and other domesticated animals , and also of human being . C. tetani can be witness in human and animal feces and spore , wide distributed , can survive in dry soils for years .
C. tetani is not an invasive organism . Tetanus is make by the action of a herculean neurotoxin ( lie with as tetanospasmin ) , which is produced during the growth of the bacterium . Tetanus toxin is neurotropic , binding to the ganglioside receptors of the nerve endings . Once in the neuronic tissue , the lockjaw toxin can not be affected by the antitoxin . The tetanus toxin can be inactivated by formaldehyde , get the tetanus toxoid , which induces the establishment of specific antitoxin .
These antibodies bring an important role in protection against lockjaw .
-Reservoir : The gut of mankind and some animals , mainly horses where it lives of course and innocuously . The spores are rule in the territory , clay , and dust , with a universal character .
-Mechanism of Transmission : The infection occurs by penetration of the being through the epithelium ( usually skin ) , unremarkably in the manikin of spores , as a result of wounds , tear , and tan foul with dirt , junk or feces of beast or humanity . Sometimes it is through contaminated syringes , drug drug user , or insignificant injuries that have gone unnoticed .
Neonatal tetanus , which is a clinical physical body of mandatory notice as well , is usually transmitted by an contagion in an unhygienic track of the umbilical cord , or by an unconventional care of the electric cord stump , especially when “ cover ” or “ spread over ” with contaminated substance ( for instance , fauna muck ) , by cultural habits . The role of former Feast of the Circumcision in transmittal is not yet clear .
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