What is tetanus infection? Let's know its symptoms and treatment…

Tetanus infection: Tetanus is a serious bacterial disease that affects the body's nervous system. It causes muscles to contract, which is very painful. Tetanus especially affects the jaw and neck muscles. Tetanus interferes with your breathing and can ultimately be a serious threat to life. Tetanus is commonly called lockjaw because it causes the jaw to lock.

What are the symptoms of tetanus?

After the tetanus bacteria enter your body through a wound, its symptoms appear within a few days to a few weeks. The average duration of symptoms after infection is seven to eight days.

Signs and symptoms of tetanus during infection may be as follows –

Neck muscle spasms.
Abdominal muscle spasms.
In addition, pain in the body for a few minutes, this pain is usually caused by some very simple actions, such as drinking, loud noises, physical contact light, etc.
Difficulty eating.
Difficulty in chewing food.
Difficulty in chewing and swallowing.

What causes tetanus?

The bacteria that cause tetanus, known as Clostridium tetani, are found in dust, soil, and animal feces. When these bacteria enter a wound (injured flesh), they produce a toxin called tetanospasmin. These toxins damage the motor neurons of the body. Motor neurons are the nerves that control muscles. The effect of the toxin on the motor neurons causes muscle stiffness and spasms, which is a major symptom of tetanus.

Tetanus can also develop due to the following types of injuries.

Surgical wounds.
Ear infections.
Animal bite wounds.
Wounds, burns.
Foot infections.
Puncture wounds such as thorns or stings, body piercings, tattoos injections for drugs, etc.
Gunshot wounds.

How is tetanus prevented?

Tetanus is easily prevented by vaccination against toxins. In almost all cases, tetanus occurs in people who have not been vaccinated against tetanus or have not received a tetanus booster shot in the last 10 years.

The tetanus vaccine is usually given to children as part of the diphtheria and tetanus toxoid and acellular pertussis vaccines. This vaccination is also called DTAP.

This vaccination protects against the following three diseases –

Tetanus.
Whooping cough.
Diphtheria is an infection of the throat and respiratory system.