Less people are getting their children vaccinated. Photo / File
In what may be a trend, I am seeing more people who, having earlier decided not to have their kids vaccinated, change their minds when faced with the prospect of actual disease. Lately, it's been tetanus.
People don't want their kids to have the discomfort of vaccination, or the chance
of an adverse reaction, so the kids are not immunised. Then one day their child gets a deep cut, big splinter, dog bite or puncture wound.
Tetanus is caused by bacterial spores that are present all around us, especially in soil and manure. The bacteria grow best in deep or dirty wounds. Washing wounds thoroughly and immediately with soap and water is recommended, but for deep puncture wounds it's not enough. If enough tetanus spores are in a wound, symptoms can occur a week later, with agonising muscle spasms that can gradually involve the entire body and go on for weeks.
People with severe cases end up on ventilators in the intensive care unit. Even with medical treatment, 10 per cent die and those who survive require months of rehabilitation.
In New Zealand, an average of five people a year get tetanus, almost all of them having not been immunised.
