Tetanus: Is it really that bad?

We all know the first thing that gets asked when you step on a rusty nail, “when is the last time you got a tetanus booster?!” I never understood why this was such a serious matter, until I saw pictures of what tetanus looks like. Tetanus is a disease caused by a scary sounding bacteria called Clostridium tetani. This type of bacteria lives in soil, which is likely where we may find a rusty nail lying around. The signs of this illness is tightening of the muscles, which can progress so badly it is eventually fatal, not to mention extremely painful! Think of the charley horse you once had in your calf muscle. Now imagine that pain ALL over your body, and it never stops, yeah that’s tetanus for you. Good news though! As explained in a MedlinePlus article, there is a vaccine that can be given to prevent against this horrific illness.

The CDC explains the vaccines for this disease, and when they can be given. Trust me, you do not want to become overdue for this vaccine. There are four different forms of this vaccination, so you have options! These vaccines are DT, DTaP, Td and Tdap. In these abbreviations, the d is diptheria, the t is tentanus and the p is pertussis. Which vaccination you receive depends on your age. Babies and children should be getting this vaccine, and adults should be boostered for it, as well, every 10 years. I just recently got mine, now you go get yours!

This disease seems quite crazy, as if it could NEVER happen in the United States, right? WRONG! Just recently in 2017, there was a case of tetanus in the US. An article in the journal Contagion Live explains this case. A young boy in Oregon, who was unvaccinated for tetanus, spent 57 days in the hospital, with 47 of those days in the ICU. He was lucky in that he was able to resume normal activity after a month of rehabilitation, following his hospital stay. However, this is not always the case. The most insane thing to me about this story is the fact that his parents declined an additional DTaP vaccine, as well as any other vaccines. You’d think they’d learn their lesson after a close to $1 million hospital bill, but I guess not. One can only hope that some sense will be knocked into anti-vaxxers soon, so no more children or immunocompromised people have to suffer with these horrible diseases.