Vaccines are available that can help prevent tetanus , an infection caused by Clostridium tetani bacteria. Four kinds of vaccines used today protect against tetanus, all of which also protect against other diseases:. CDC recommends tetanus vaccination for all babies and children, preteens and teens, and adults. Basic information for people interested in diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough vaccination….
The tetanus shot protects people from the tetanus infection. It is an important vaccination to have. Most people will not have side effects, but…. Tetanus, also known as lockjaw, is a severe infection caused by a bacterium that affects the brain and nervous system.
The bacterium usually enters…. This article looks at the causes…. An open wound leaves internal tissue exposed. They require special care depending on the type of wound. Minor open wounds may not require medical…. Symptoms of an infected wound can include increasing pain, redness, and swelling in the affected area.
A person may be able to treat minor wound…. How often should you get a tetanus shot? Medically reviewed by Alana Biggers, M. Duration How often Safety Why get one? Causes Symptoms Treatment Seeing a doctor Summary Tetanus, or lockjaw, is a medical emergency that can be prevented by vaccination. How long does a tetanus shot last? Share on Pinterest A tetanus shot provides most people with about 10 years of protection. As a result, each person needs a series of tetanus vaccines in order to avoid getting tetanus.
Tetanus vaccines are often given in combination with vaccines that protect you from other diseases, such as diphtheria and pertussis. The U. Once you are fully immunized, you are very unlikely to get tetanus. To become fully immunized, babies and children should get a series of six tetanus shots during childhood and adolescence.
To stay fully immunized, the CDC recommends that adults receive a booster shot every 10 years. Tetanus boosters help to make sure that you have enough antibodies to neutralize the toxin produced by Clostridium tetani should you get an infection.
If you are injured and it has been more than 10 years since your last tetanus booster, your doctor may recommend getting a booster shot. If your wound is especially dirty, your doctor may recommend a booster shot even if it has been less than 10 years since your last tetanus shot. Most tetanus vaccine side effects are mild and temporary. Severe side effects, such as persistent, inconsolable crying occurred in one of every doses, fever greater than degrees occurred in one of every doses, and seizures with fever occurred in one of every 1, doses.
The new "acellular" pertussis vaccine, the one that has been in use in the United States since , has much lower rates of both mild and severe side effects. Mild side effects such as pain and tenderness at the injection site occur in about one-third of children, most often after the fourth or fifth dose.
More severe reactions occur in about one of every 10, children. Severe reactions can include fever of degrees or higher, fever-associated seizures, inconsolable crying, or hypotonic-hyporesponsive syndrome, a condition in which a child can become listless and lethargic with poor muscle tone for several hours. Unfortunately, recent data suggests that the tradeoff for increased safety was decreased vaccine effectiveness.
However, it is unlikely that we would return to using the older version; instead, additional booster doses may be recommended until a newer version of the vaccine that is both safe and more effective can be developed.
Because pertussis, in particular, circulates in many parts of the country each year and young infants are most susceptible to complications from the disease, the relative benefits of the vaccine may still outweigh the risks. Previous experience has shown that in most cases, infants who experience inconsolable crying after the first dose of DTaP do not experience the same reaction after subsequent doses. Pertussis is common in teenagers and adults. Therefore, a vaccine to prevent pertussis in teenagers and adults is of great benefit.
A newer "acellular" pertussis-containing vaccine is available for older children and adults part of the Tdap vaccine. Because adolescents and adults can transmit this disease to infants who are too young to have received their series of the DTaP vaccine, it is imperative that adults around the baby are immune. Parents, grandparents and childcare providers should all have received a dose of Tdap vaccine.
Also see vaccine considerations for new and expectant moms. Pertussis can be a dangerous disease for a new baby. Because of their small airways and the amount of mucus caused by infection with pertussis, babies have trouble breathing, often turning blue during their coughing spells.
Every year in the U. There are several things that you can do to help protect your baby from pertussis. Babies get a vaccine to protect them from pertussis when they are 2 months, 4 months, and 6 months of age.
They get an additional dose at 15 to 18 months. However, babies are most susceptible during their first few months of life either because they have not gotten the vaccine yet or because the dose they received did not fully protect them. During this time, you can protect your baby by making sure that all of the adults or siblings who will be around the baby are up to date on pertussis vaccine and are healthy, particularly that they are free of coughing illnesses. There is a vaccine available for adolescents and adults called Tdap.
The "p" means that it contains a pertussis component. Although any time during this window is acceptable, public health officials recommend getting the vaccine as early as possible during this window.
If you are past 36 weeks in your pregnancy, be sure to ask for the Tdap vaccine before being discharged from the hospital. Your spouse, the baby's grandparents and any other adults who will commonly be around the baby should also get the vaccine in advance of your delivery if they have not had a dose previously. Additionally, you can encourage hand washing before people touch the baby, and if anyone has a cough, try to limit the baby's exposure to this person.
Unfortunately, people are not only contagious in the first few weeks of the severe coughing stage, but also in the one- to two-week period leading up to cough onset.
During this period, symptoms may resemble cold-like respiratory symptoms e. Read more about ways to protect your baby before vaccinations. Protection after a pertussis infection is not life-long. Because infants are at increased risk of suffering complications and death from pertussis infections, adults and teens who will be around them, including childcare providers, should have a single dose of the Tdap vaccine.
Adults who have not previously gotten the Tdap vaccine should receive a single dose. Although any time during this window is fine, public health personnel suggest earlier rather than later during the window for maximum protection for the baby.
Read about a mom who lost her 3-week-old baby when they both got pertussis». Diphtheria is an extremely rare cause of disease in the United States. Over the past 20 years there have been only about 15 cases of diphtheria and fewer than five deaths.
The last death from diphtheria in the United States was in Most cases of diphtheria are imported; in fact, there have been no cases in U. On the other hand, the diphtheria vaccine has no serious side effects.
So although the risk of disease and death from diphtheria is very small, the risk of severe adverse reactions or death from the diphtheria vaccine is zero. In addition, drops in immunization rates in other parts of the world have taught us how quickly outbreaks of diphtheria can return.
For these reasons, the benefits of the diphtheria vaccine outweigh its risks. Although tetanus bacteria are everywhere, tetanus is an uncommon cause of disease in the United States. Between and , an average of 28 cases of tetanus was reported each year in the United States with three or four deaths. On the other hand, although the tetanus vaccine can be a very rare cause of a short-lived allergic reaction called "anaphylaxis," the tetanus vaccine does not cause death. Therefore, the benefits of the tetanus vaccine outweigh its risks.
In addition, because most of the disease and death from tetanus occur in the elderly, it is important to get booster immunizations every 10 years. This question is best answered by taking a look at the side effects of the old pertussis vaccine. The old pertussis vaccine had a high rate of severe side effects such as persistent inconsolable crying, fever higher than degrees, and seizures with fever.
Due to negative publicity surrounding this vaccine, the use of the pertussis vaccine decreased in many areas of the world.
For example, in Japan, children stopped receiving the pertussis vaccine by In the three years before the vaccine was discontinued, there were cases and 10 deaths from pertussis. In the three years after the pertussis vaccine was discontinued, there were 13, cases and deaths from pertussis. It should be noted that although the side effects of the old pertussis vaccine were high, no child ever died from pertussis vaccine. The Japanese Ministry of Health, realizing how costly its error had been, soon reinstituted the use of pertussis vaccine.
The children of Japan proved that the benefits of the old pertussis vaccine clearly outweighed the risks. The new "acellular" pertussis vaccine has a much lower risk of severe side effects than the old "whole cell" vaccine.
Pertussis is quite common in the United States. An average of about 17, cases of pertussis were reported to the CDC each year between and , and a few people died from the disease in the U. However, because of under-diagnosis and misdiagnosis, the number of cases is likely to be a vast underestimate of that which actually occurred.
Sadly, most of the deaths from pertussis occur in young infants who struggle to breathe against a narrowed windpipe, leading them to turn blue or stop breathing for a short time. Because the pertussis vaccine does not cause death, the benefits of the pertussis vaccine clearly outweigh its risks.
Risk of seizures after immunization in children with epilepsy: a risk interval analysis. BMC Pediatr ; The authors analyzed the risk of seizures after immunization in children with epilepsy less than 7 years of age. Nearly half of the immunization visits that occurred after epilepsy diagnosis were characterized by receipt of DTaP.
The risk of seizures was not increased days after any vaccine. The authors concluded that children with epilepsy do not appear to be at increased risk of seizures following immunization. These findings suggest that immunization is safe in children with epilepsy. Seizures, encephalopathy, and vaccines: experience in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
J Pediatr ; The authors described the demographic and clinical characteristics of children younger than 2 years of age for whom claims were filed with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program VICP alleging seizure disorder or encephalopathy or both during a one-year period. In 80 percent of these claims, a pertussis-containing vaccine was implicated, and four times more often related to the whole-cell pertussis vaccine.
Seizure disorder was the primary condition for which compensation was sought and less than half of the claimants were known to have been febrile at the time of presentation. A significant number of children with alleged vaccine injury had pre-existing neurologic or neurodevelopmental abnormalities.
Among those developing chronic epilepsy, many had clinical features suggesting that the epilepsy had a genetic basis. Vaccine ; The authors examined the risk of serious, but uncommon, adverse events after receipt of DTaP-IPV in more than , children years of age during a four-year period via the Vaccine Safety Datalink project.
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