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A baby with the body rigidity of neonatal tetanus. CDC.
Tetanus is a medical emergency that needs hospital care and often brings complications. It is diagnosed clinically: there is no laboratory test that can confirm or rule it out.
Three forms
| Form | How common | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Generalized | the most common — more than 3 in 4 cases | painful muscle contractions throughout the body |
| Localized | less common; usually in people with partial immunity | painful spasms confined near the injury; can progress to generalized |
| Cephalic | the rarest | follows injuries to the head or face, sometimes ear infections (otitis media); causes limp cranial nerve palsies rather than spasm; can progress to generalized |
Neonatal tetanus is generalized tetanus in newborns who lack protective antibodies from the mother.
Signs
- Lockjaw (trismus): painful contraction of the jaw muscles.
- Generalized spasms, often set off by sensory stimuli such as noise or touch.
- Rigidity, seizures, and difficulty swallowing or breathing.
- In older children and adults, abdominal rigidity is a common first sign — sometimes only near the wound.
Diagnosis
Clinicians diagnose tetanus from a presentation consistent with it, when no other cause is more likely.
- There may be no history of an injury or visible entry wound.
- Tetanus bacteria are rarely recovered from the wound; cultures give both false positives and false negatives.
- Blood tests cannot reliably judge a person's tetanus immunity.
- CDC does not test for tetanus.
Complications
Generalized tetanus can bring nervous system problems and complications of severe spasms and long hospital stays:
- laryngospasm and aspiration pneumonia
- fractures from the force of spasms
- high blood pressure
- hospital-acquired infections
- pulmonary embolism
- death
Prevention is vaccination: follow CDC's immunization schedule to keep patients protected.
Sources
Based on "Clinical Features of Tetanus," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain. A stock photograph is not reproduced.
Licens: CC0 1.0 (allmän egendom) · Bearbetat efter www.cdc.gov
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