Tetanus
A man who was struck from behind by a sharp dart a little below the neck had a wound which did not look serious because it did not go deep. But sometime later when the point had been extracted the patient was seized with backward-bending convulsions like those of opisthotonus. His jaws were locked, and any liquid that he attempted to swallow was returned through his nostrils. He died on the second day.
As of 2010 it caused about 61,000 deaths down from 272,000 in 1990. Tetanus –in particular, the neonatal form –remains a significant public health problem in non-industrialized countries with 59,000 newborns worldwide dying in 2008 as a result of neonatal tetanus.[19] In the United States, from 2000 through 2007 an average of 31 cases were reported per year.[3] Nearly all of the cases in the United States occur in unimmunized individuals or individuals who have allowed
their inoculations to lapse. Tetanus is the only vaccine-preventable disease that is infectious but is not contagious.[ Lancet(柳叶刀)380 (9859): 2095–128]
Tetanus is a common disease, with the progress of medicine, death caused by it has become less and less, but it does not go away. Tetanus is a medical condition characterized by a prolonged contraction of skeletal muscle fibers. The primary symptoms are caused by tetanospasmin, a neurotoxin produced by
the Gram-positive,rod-shaped,obligate anaerobic bacterium Clostridium tetanus.
Infection generally occurs through wound contamination and often involves a cut or deep puncture wound. As the infection progresses, muscle spasms develop in the jaw (thus the name lockjaw) and elsewhere in the body. Infection can be prevented by proper immunization or post-exposure prophylaxis.
Tetanus is caused by the tetanus bacterium Clostridium tetani. Tetanus is often associated with rust, especially rusty nails. Objects that accumulate rust are often found outdoors, or in places that harbor anaerobic bacteria, but the rust itself does not cause tetanus nor does it contain more C. titanic bacteria. The rough surface of rusty metal merely provides a prime habitat for C. tetani endosperms to reside in, and the nail affords a means to puncture skin and deliver endosperms deep within the body at the site of the wound.[医学微生物学]
Tetanus Ab le tt classification:
Mild: mild - moderate lockjaw; General spasticity; without difficulty breathing; without convulsions; no or mild dysphagia.
Moderate: Moderate lockjaw; obvious spasm; mild - moderate but short convulsions; moderate difficulty breathing and respiratory rate> 30 beats / min; mild dysphagia. Severe: severe lockjaw; generalized spasticity; reflecting sustained convulsions; respiratory rate> 40 beats / min; severe difficulty breathing; severe dysphagia; tachycardia> 120 beats / min.
Very serious: three self-discipline and a strong cardiovascular system instability; severe hypertension and tachycardia and hypotension and bradycardia alternately; any form persistent.[医学微生物学]
