Tetanus symptoms

What Are the Symptoms of Tetanus? You should suspect • Stiffness of the neck, jaw, and other muscles, often accompanied by a sneering, grinning expression • Difficulty swallowing • • Sweating • Uncontrollable spasms of the jaw, called lockjaw, and neck muscles • Painful, involuntary contraction of other muscles In some cases, symptoms will develop in the absence of any cut or wound that you can recall. In addition, you may notice restlessness, lack of appetite, and drooling. Call Your Doctor About Tetanus If: You are bitten by an animal or wounded by an object that might be contaminated with dirt, feces, or dust, and you have not been immunized against tetanus or received a booster within the last five years. Tetanus infection can be fatal and should be treated as soon as possible.

Tetanus can be prevented with a simple vaccine. However, if you have not been vaccinated and are infected, the disease can cause muscle spasms ranging from mild to life-threatening. There are currently no blood tests available to diagnose tetanus. As such, treatment would begin upon the appearance of symptoms and may include a tetanus antitoxin, intravenous antibiotics, antispasmodic drugs, and mechanical ventilation. • Local tetanusonly affects the muscles around the immediate area of infection. The spasms tend to be mild and last for only a few weeks, although they can sometimes precede generalized tetanus. • Cephalic tetanusis limited only the muscles of the head. It usually occurs after an injury to the head such as a skull fracture, laceration, or even a tooth extraction. Typically, this type of tetanus looks like paralysis of the facial nerve,, resulting in • Neonatal tetanusinvolves newborns of mothers who have not been vaccinated for tetanus. Because the baby has no inborn immunity to C. tetani,it is vulnerable to infection, most often as a result of an infected umbilical stump. While rare in the developed world, neonatal tetanus is the second leading cause of vaccine-preventable diseases among children worldwide. Causes Clostridium tetani is an anaerobic bacterium, meaning that it cannot live or grow where oxygen is present. When exposed to air, the bacterium will form a protective spore which allows it to remain in a dormant state, largely impervious to heat, dry...