Tetanus infection can be life-threatening without treatment. Approximately 10 to 20 percent of tetanus infections are fatal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) . Tetanus is a medical emergency that requires immediate treatment in a hospital.
You may need a tetanus jab if the injury has broken your skin and your tetanus vaccinations aren't up-to-date. Tetanus is a serious but rare condition that can be fatal if untreated. The bacteria that can cause tetanus can enter your body through a wound or cut in your skin. They're often found in soil and manure.
People who have tetanus must be treated in a hospital. Severe muscle spasms may last for about three to four weeks and then slowly get better. Once these spasms subside, recovery takes several months.
The incubation period — time from exposure to illness — is usually between 3 and 21 days (average 10 days). However, it may range from one day to several months, depending on the kind of wound. Most cases occur within 14 days.
Rust doesn't cause tetanus, but stepping on a nail might if you're not immunized. In fact, any damage to the skin, even burns and blisters, allows tetanus-causing bacteria to enter the body. Tetanus is not as common as it once was. Still, tetanus patients have only about a 50-50 chance of recovering.
Tetanus Vaccine Risks and Side Effects. It's important to know that, in general, the risk of problems from getting tetanus is much greater than from getting a tetanus vaccine. You cannot get tetanus from the tetanus shot. However, sometimes the tetanus vaccine can cause mild side effects.
If you don't receive proper treatment, the toxin's effect on respiratory muscles can interfere with breathing. If this happens, you may die of suffocation. A tetanus infection may develop after almost any type of skin injury, major or minor. This includes cuts, punctures, crush injuries, burns and animal bites.
You will need a tetanus shot if:
- Your wound was caused by something that was clean and your last tetanus shot was longer than 10 years ago.
- Your wound was caused by something that was dirty and your last tetanus shot was longer than 5 years ago.
Tetanus is an infection caused by bacteria called Clostridium tetani. When the bacteria invade the body, they produce a poison (toxin) that causes painful muscle contractions. Another name for tetanus is “lockjaw”.
Tetanus Causes. Many people associate tetanus with rusty objects — like stepping on a rusty nail or cutting yourself on a sharp piece of metal. But the bacterium actually lives in soil, dust, and manure. Any activity that brings you in contact with these substances carries a risk of tetanus infection.
If your skin gets pierced from anything, be it your own kitchen knife or a rusty old screw, it's worth making sure that your tetanus shot is up to date.
The toxin does no permanent damage, and patients who receive appropriate supportive care generally recover. Sometimes symptoms develop rapidly, and some people live in remote areas where they are not able to receive appropriate care and are at a higher risk of death from tetanus.
Today the majority of new cases of tetanus occur in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. As the chart shows, these two regions account for 82% of all tetanus cases globally. Similarly, 77% of all deaths from tetanus, 29,500 lives lost, occur in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
