featured-image

It’s a childhood vaccination rite of passage, and adults need to keep up to date with a tetanus booster shot every 10 years. But how much do you really know about this potentially serious disease, and why is it so important to protect yourself against it? Also known as lockjaw, tetanus is a disease that affects the central nervous system and is caused by a specific strain of bacteria called clostridium tetani. It’s pretty common to encounter it in soil.

It’s only when the bacteria enter your bloodstream through a cut, scrape or puncture wound after contact with a contaminated — often rusty metal — object that the toxins start to replicate and cause infection. The symptoms that can result over the next few days and weeks may include muscle stiffness and spasms, headache, fever and a telltale tightening of the jaw that can make opening your mouth and swallowing painful. Once you’ve contracted it, tetanus needs to be treated quickly with antibiotics and human tetanus immune globulin injection to combat the infection.



Fortunately, it’s not contagious. However, if left untreated, it is possible for tetanus to progress into serious health complications such as aspiration pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, breathing difficulty and even death. The good news is tetanus is preventable, which is precisely why getting your shot is so important.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that babies receive a series of three DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and whoop.

Back to Health Page