In daily life, it is inevitable for everyone to have some major and minor injuries, bumps and bruises, such as cutting vegetables and hands, stepping on nails, or getting bald. At this time, friends around you may remind you to break the cold needle.
However, some people feel that it's just a small wound and there's no big problem after being injured, so they just need to bandage it themselves, which can lead to tetanus infection.
What is tetanus? Tetanus is a specific infection caused by Clostridium tetani, often associated with ICU rescue, amputation, and death. Clinical findings have shown that the mortality rate of this disease is 30% -50%. As a potentially fatal disease, without medical intervention, especially for the elderly and infants, the mortality rate is close to 100%.
Tetanus Clostridium is ubiquitous, widely present in soil and feces, and has strong resistance to the environment. Even under high temperature conditions of 100 ℃, it may take up to 1 hour to be completely destroyed.
Tetanus Clostridium can produce two types of exotoxins: spasmotoxin and hemolytic toxin. Tetanus spasmotoxin has a special affinity for nerves and is one of the strongest known toxins, with a lethal dose for humans of less than 1 μ g.
Tetanus is so terrifying, does it require breaking a cold shot as soon as one is injured? The answer is of course negative. The hypoxic environment is a breeding ground for Clostridium tetani. This hypoxic environment generally only occurs when the wound is small, deep, or when there is local tissue ischemia and hypoxia, such as being stabbed by rusty nails.
Good wound management and vaccination can effectively prevent tetanus infection. Wound treatment measures: For wounds with a large amount of bacterial contamination and dirt, wound cleaning should be carried out as soon as possible. Stimulating foreign objects or dirt inside the wound should be removed on site as much as possible and the wound should be rinsed. At the same time, iodine or hydrogen peroxide can be used to disinfect the wound. If hair needs to be removed during wound treatment or suturing, it should be cut off instead of scraped off. Wounds with obvious inactive tissue should be left open.
Immunoprophylaxis. The commonly known "tetanus vaccine" includes tetanus active immunization preparations (including tetanus component vaccines, TCV) and tetanus passive immunization preparations (tetanus human immunoglobulin, HTIG; Horse tetanus immunoglobulin, F(ab‘)2； Tetanus antitoxin, TAT]。 The tetanus vaccine takes effect slowly, and it usually takes about 2 weeks after injection for the antibodies to reach protective levels. The protective effect after full immunization can last for 5-10 years; Its characteristics are minimal side effects and long-term protection. Passive immune preparations are exogenous tetanus antibodies used for short-term emergency prevention of tetanus. Although the human body can quickly acquire immunity after injection, the effective protection time is relatively short.
In fact, each of us has received the tetanus vaccine, commonly known as the DPT vaccine, after birth. However, the protection period of the vaccine is only 5-10 years, and people with weakened tetanus immunity are still at high risk.
If patients who have not received the full tetanus vaccine in the past or have an unclear vaccination history have wounds that may be infected with tetanus, passive immunization should be administered.
Although tetanus attacks are terrifying, actively treating wounds, getting vaccinated, and scientifically preventing them can still prevent and control tetanus.