Tetanus is a serious bacterial infection caused by Clostridium tetani that causes painful muscle spasms and stiffness. It enters the body through breaks in the skin, especially wounds contaminated with dirt or manure. Symptoms include jaw cramping, sudden involuntary muscle tightening, headache, and fever. Complications can include breathing problems, pneumonia, and death. Tetanus is prevented through vaccination and proper wound care. Treatment involves antibiotics, tetanus immune globulin, muscle relaxers, wound cleaning, and vaccination.

1. Erbil Polytechnic University
Soran Technical college
Nursing Department
Stage one
Dr. Abdulla Abas Ibrahim

2. What is tetanus?
Tetanus is a serious bacterial infection that affects the nervous system and
causes muscles throughout the body to tighten. It’s also called lockjaw
because the infection often causes muscle contractions in the jaw and neck.
However, it can eventually spread to other parts of the body.
Tetanus is an infection caused by a bacterium called Clostridium tetani.
Spores of tetanus bacteria are everywhere in the environment, including soil,
dust, and manure. The spores develop into bacteria when they enter the
body.

3. Causes
Tetanus infection has been associated with:
 Wounds contaminated with dirt, poop (feces),
 Wounds caused by an object puncturing the skin (puncture wounds), like a nail or needle
 Burns
 Crush injuries
 Injuries with dead tissue
Less commonly, it’s been associated with:
 animal bites
 dental infections
 insect bites
 chronic sores and infections

4.  Other Ways Tetanus Gets Into Your Body
 Tetanus bacteria can also infect the body through breaks in the skin caused by:
• Clean superficial wounds (when only the topmost layer of skin is scraped off)
• Surgical procedures
• Insect bites
• Dental infections
• Compound fractures (a break in the bone where it is exposed)
• Chronic sores and infections
• Intravenous (IV) drug use
• Intramuscular injections (shots given in a muscle)

5. Tetanus affects the nerves that control your muscles, You may also
experience spasms and stiffness in various muscles, especially those in your
jaw, abdomen, chest, back, and neck.
The incubation period — the time between exposure to the bacteria and the
onset of illness — is between 3 and 21 days. Symptoms typically appear
within 14 days
Symptoms

6. Symptoms of tetanus include:
The first sign is most commonly spasms of the muscles of the jaw, or “lockjaw.”
•Jaw cramping
•Sudden, involuntary muscle tightening (muscle spasms) — often in the stomach
•Painful muscle stiffness all over the body
•Trouble swallowing
•Jerking or staring (seizures)
•Headache
•Fever and sweating
•Changes in blood pressure and heart rate

7. Complications
Severe muscle spasms as a result of tetanus can also cause serious
health complications, such as:
 breathing problems
 pneumonia (an infection of the lungs)
 brain damage due to lack of oxygen
 abnormal heart rhythm

8. • Uncontrolled/involuntary tightening of the vocal cords (laryngospasm)
• Broken bones (fractures)
• Infections gotten by a patient during a hospital visit (hospital-acquired infections)
• Blockage of the main artery of the lung or one of its branches by a blood clot that has travelled from
elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (pulmonary embolism)
• Pneumonia, a lung infection, that develops by breathing in foreign materials (aspiration pneumonia)
• Breathing difficulty, possibly leading to death (1 to 2 in 10 cases are fatal)

9. Diagnosis
Doctors diagnose tetanus based on a physical exam, medical
and vaccination history, and the signs and symptoms of
muscle spasms, muscle rigidity and pain. A laboratory test
would

10. Prevention
Vaccination and good wound care are important to help prevent tetanus
infection. Doctors can also use a medicine to help prevent tetanus
Several vaccines protect against tetanus
• DTaP protects against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis
(whooping cough)
• DT protects against diphtheria and tetanus
• Tdap protects against tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis
• Td protects against tetanus and diphtheria

11.  Good Wound Care
 Immediate and good wound care can also help prevent infection.
• Don’t delay first aid of even minor, non-infected wounds like blisters, scrapes, or
any break in the skin.
• Wash hands often with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand rub if
washing is not possible.
• Consult your doctor if you have concerns and need further advice.

12. Treatment
Treatment depends on the severity of your symptoms. Tetanus is typically treated with
a variety of therapies and medications, such as:
 antibiotics such as penicillin to kill the bacteria in your system
 tetanus immune globulin (TIG) to neutralize the toxins that the bacteria have
created in your body
 muscle relaxers to control muscle spasms
 a tetanus vaccine given along with the treatment
 cleaning the wound to get rid of the source of the bacteria

13. •Epidemiology and prevention of vaccine-preventable diseases: Tetanus. (2016).
cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/tetanus.html
•Mayo Clinic Staff. (2016). Tetanus: Overview.
mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tetanus/home/ovc-20200456
•Tetanus. (2016).
kidshealth.org/en/parents/tetanus.html
•Tetanus and the vaccine (shot) to prevent it. (2014).
cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/diseases/child/tetanus.html
•Tetanus: Causes and transmission. (2017).
cdc.gov/tetanus/about/causes-transmission.html
•Tetanus (lockjaw). (2014).
health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/tetanus/fact_sheet.htm
•Tetanus: Symptoms and complications. (2017).
cdc.gov/tetanus/about/symptoms-complications.html
•Tetanus vaccination. (2016).
cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/tetanus/index.html
•Stevens, D. L., Bisno, A. L., Chambers, H. F., Dellinger, E. P., Goldstein, E. J. C., Gorbach,
S. L., … Wade, J. C. (2014, June 18). Practice guidelines for the diagnosis and
management of skin and soft tissue infections: 2014 update by the Infectious Diseases
Society of America. Clinical Infectious Diseases
cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/06/14/cid.ciu296.full
References