Tetanus

Tetanus occurs when a wound is not properly cleaned and the germ is trapped in the wound and cut off from oxygen. Typically this would be a puncture wound where the skin would close up quickly leaving infection underneath as with a rusty nail. Wounds that bleed will never result in tetanus because the tetanus bacillus is anaerobic. Information taken from the insert from the pharmaceutical company who manufactures the drug states, “This is primarily a disease of older adults.” Newborns typically are not in danger of being punctured by a rusty nail. Neonatal Tetanus occurs among babies born under unhygienic conditions. 1) What is the real risk of getting a severe case of tetanus if you are unvaccinated? 2) How many cases of serious tetanus would occur were all wounds cared for properly? 3) What antibody level actually confers protection from a serious case of tetanus? The truth is, the antibody level required to be universally protective is unknown. The "generally accepted" protective level for tetanus antibody > 0.15 IU/mL. This level was proposed by Snead in1937, and has been the accepted "standard" since that time. However, the number is arbitrary and not guaranteed to protect from infection. Therefore, routinely vaccinating every 10 years, as the journal article suggests, simply to maintain "adequate antibody levels" is uncalled for and may not only provide the person with a false sense of security, it may actually cause harm. Tetanus vaccines haven't gotten the "bad press" many of the other vaccines have recently received. In the zeal to protect from this "deadly disease," it is imagined that the risk of infection far exceeds the potential risk of the vaccine. What harm could it do? I thought the vaccine only contained inactivated tetanus toxin and sterile water. I am convinced that is the perception of nearly all physicians. It was disturbing to learn of the other ingredients that are in the tetanus toxoid vaccine: formaldehyde; sodium phosphate monobasic; sodium phophate dibasic, [an eye and skin irritant that may be harmful if ingested]; glycine, aluminum, and 25 ug. of thimerosal (mercury). There is obviously more to the tetanus vaccine than inactivated toxoid! In the Emergency Department, if the tetanus status of a patient is "unknown," an additional shot is routinely given, because it is thought to be harmless. However, this is simply bad medicine. If the person doesn't need the tetanus booster, the vaccine can cause a severe allergic reaction referred to as an Arthus type, Type III hypersensitivity reaction. This side effect is defined as "an acute inflammatory reaction caused by deposition of antigen -- antibody complexes into the tissues." Also, take a look at what Dr. Mendelsohn says about Tetanus; (The People's Doctor Newsletter 1976-1988) You have every right to closely question me on the tetanus vaccine, since that was the last vaccine I abandoned. It wasn't hard for me to give up vaccines for whooping cough, measles, and rubella because of their disabling and sometimes deadly side effects. The mumps vaccine, a high-risk, low-benefit product, struck me and plenty of other doctors as silly from the moment it was introduced. Arguments for the diphtheria vaccine were vitiated by epidemics during the past 15 years which showed the same death rate and the same severity of illness in those who were vaccinated vs. those who were not vaccinated. As for smallpox, even the government finally gave up that vaccine in 1970, and I gave up on the polio vaccine when Jonas Salk showed that the best way to catch polio in the United States was to be near a child who recently had taken the Sabin vaccine. But the tetanus vaccine exercised a hold on me for a much longer time. As you point out, I gave up belief in this vaccine in stages. For a while, I still held onto the notion that farm families and people who work around stables should continue to take tetanus shots. But in spite of my early indoctrination with fear of "rusty nails," in recent years, I have developed a greater fear of the hypodermic needle. My reasons are: 1) Scientific evidence shows that too-frequent tetanus boosters actually may interfere with the immune reaction. 2) There has been a gradual retreat of even the most conservative authorities from giving tetanus boosters every one year to every two years to every five years to every 10 years (as now recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics), and according to some, every 20 years. All these numbers are based on guesses rather than on hard scientific evidence. 3) There has been a growing recognition that no controlled scientific study (in which half the patients were given the vaccine and the other half were given injections of sterile water) has ever been carried out to prove the safety and effectiveness of the tetanus vaccine. Evidence for the vaccine comes from epidemiologic studies which are by nature controversial and which do not satisfy the criteria for scientific proof. 4) The tetanus vaccine over the decades has been progressively weakened in order to reduce the considerable reaction (fever and swelling) it used to cause. Accompanying this reduction in reactivity has been a concomitant reduction in antigenicity (the ability to confer protection). Therefore, there is a good chance that today's tetanus vaccine is about as effective as tap water. 5) Until the last few years, government statistics admitted that 40 percent of the child population of the U.S. was not immunized. For all those decades, where were the tetanus cases from all those rusty nails? 6) There now exists a growing theoretical concern which links immunizations to the huge increase in recent decades of auto-immune diseases, e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus erythematosus, lymphoma, and leukemia. In one case, Guillain-Barre paralysis from swine flu vaccine, the relationship turned out to be more than just theoretical. Source: http://www.vaccinetruth.org/page_8.htm

Is the vaccine the only way to protect my child? Think about your feelings on this subject. Think about the messages you have received. What is a key point about Tetanus in our culture? The lack of choice. Whenever something is “your only option” it’s a pretty good indication that someone is lying to you. The parents I talk to feel that getting the vaccine is the ONLY option to protect their child from Tetanus. When a care provider tells you there are no options, this is a red flag and I encourage you to think about what it means when someone does this to you. What are ways you can immediately protect your child? Proper wound care. That’s it. Seems ridiculously simple doesn’t it? Looking for adequate blood flow, cleansing the wound, applying an antiseptic and keeping the wound clean are basic steps to preventing ANY disease, including Tetanus. But I know there’s a question hanging in the back of your mind because you are a parent. I am a parent, too. I know that question all too intimately. “But what if???” IF for some reason you and your child's doctor assess a risk for Tetanus, you have the option of choosing a non-vaccine shot called Tetanus Immunoglobulin or TiG for short. IMPORTANT: if you suspect Tetanus, make sure your child gets the TiG shot! Many doctors and nurses sadly are not informed on this issue. They will pressure you to give your child the vaccine instead. Even if you ask for the immunoglobulin, some medical employees might not know what this is or think you are mistaken and assume you want the vaccine. Sometimes they claim to have a "T" only vaccine, which is untrue. The bottom line? Tetanus is difficult to contract and easy to cure. No vaccine required. Pretty sad isn’t it? Here I want to quickly resolve another related myth. I often hear parents say that they took their child to the emergency room because he stepped on a rusty nail or scraped his hand on a rusty piece of metal. Doctors readily push this misconception as well and use the descriptive term "rusty" when talking about Tetanus or promoting the vaccine. After learning about how the illness is contracted, can you see the contradiction? Rust is the visible symptom of oxygenation. The tetani bacterium requires an anaerobic environment. I'm not saying there is absolutely no chance of contamination, but am just pointing out how people are conditioned to fear based on unscientific concepts about this topic. Source: http://guggiedaly.blogspot.com/2010/05/one-thing-that-has-frequently-come-up.html First, let us take a look at the properties of C.tetani, the bacteria that produce the infamous tetanus toxin. There are many different C. tetani strains, but they all produce the same type of toxin called tetanospasmin. If this toxin gets into the central nervous system of animals or humans, it inhibits the activity of the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). This inhibition results in the symptoms of the tetanus disease: rigid muscular spasms, such as lockjaw, sardonic smile, and general convulsions. C. tetani bacteria normally live in animal manure and intestines without causing the tetanus disease. C. tetani bacteria require anaerobicconditions to be active - that is, they cannot function in the presence of oxygen. Upon contact with oxygen from the air, they turn into very resilient and long-lived spores. Spores themselves are inactive and do not produce any toxin. However, when anaerobic conditions are present again, spores germinate back into bacterial cells capable of toxin production. The risk for tetanus comes from wounds that have been contaminated with C. tetani spores or bacteria, not from the proverbial rusty nail. If not well maintained, such wounds create anaerobic conditions that allow C. tetani spores to germinate and start producing the toxin. If the toxin molecules are able to get through the peripheral nerves into the central nervous system, the symptoms of tetanus ensue. Source: Vaccine Illusion by Tetyana Obukhanych All the effects of tetanus toxin are self-limited and completely reversible in patients who recover from the disease., usually leaving no residual effects. Correctly treated tetanus requires NO physical or occupational therapy in recovery. The symptoms of tetanus spasms, seizures, back arching and locking of the jaw are cause by a toxin called tetanospasmin, released by the spore form of a bacteria called Clostridium Tetani of which there are many distinct types. All have one or more common antigens, and produce at least two toxins. Tetanospasmin which is the exotin which acts on the nerves, is as toxic as strychnine and is identical across all different clostridial types.

Tetanus spores are everywhere in the environment. On your bookcase, in your back yard, in clothing and house dust. and in your mouth and faeces. Tetanus has been known to follow surgery and innocuous procedures such as skin testing or intramuscular injections of medications; injecting drug addicts, and I also have many case histories of cases following haemorrhoid and other surgery.

Clostridium bacteria are especially common in the intestines and faeces of rats, guinea pigs, chickens, cats, dogs, sheep, cattle and horses. Approximately 5% of humans have clostridium tetani multiplying in their guts yet don’t even know it, although the 1940 text puts that figure at 25%. Clinical tetanus, for some unknown reason, has a male/female ration 2.5/1. Toxin production is favoured by dead or necrotic tissue with little oxygen, which are the ideal breeding ground for spores, which are taken there by phagocytes. Tetanus can be detected in human faeces and human bites, and as Holmes 40 states, tetanus CAN routinely live inside our bodies, so the existence of tetanus spores inside us is NOT the ultimate cause of tetanus. Were that the case, the earth would have no people or animals in it. Conditions must exist - which create an environment - which will result in the tetanus suddenly causing problems, and those conditions depend on the HOST, not the tetanus. One of the biggest dangers is something called the Standard American Diet, where so much of the calories eaten are empty and lacking core nutrients which are important to a fully functioning innate immune system. In developing countries, the biggest risk factor outside of neonatal tetanus, is MALnutrition. Not enough food. and lack of sanitation and clean running water. In developed countries, one of the biggest risk factors if MALnutrition. As in, enough food, but food which isn't worthy of being eaten. And yes, many New Zealand children are fed Standard American diets. Just watch what goes in the average family's Pak'N'Save trolleys. The contents are often enough, to curl any nutritionist's toes.

There are no laboratory tests for tetanus, which is diagnosed solely on symptoms. However, other tests may be used to rule out strychnine poisoning which looks very like tetanus. Other diagnoses which have to be ruled out are: dental infections, local infections, Hysteria, neoplasm, encephalitis and dystonia. (Hegazi – last slide) Dystonia can also be caused by drugs like stemetil, Stelazine and chlorpromazine (Largactil) so in cases where tetanus is considered, “pseudotetanus” as a result of drug ingestion should be ruled out first. Benztropine of Diazapam are the antidotes recommended for tetanic like symptoms from drugs. (Which makes you ask the question, "how do drugs act on the nerves to cause conditions that look like tetanus?") Source: http://www.beyondconformity.co.nz/resources/tetanus ***** “If you don’t do the DTaP (diptheria, tetanus and acellullar pertussis vaccine), what do you do if your child steps on a rusty nail? Do you choose to wait until that happens and go get a tetanus shot at that time instead of doing it as prevention?” Source: http://www.mommypotamus.com/when-to-get-a-tetanust-shot/ The Truth about Tetanus and WHAT IF? http://gianelloni.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/the-truth-about-tetanus/ IMPORTANT: if you suspect Tetanus, make sure your child gets the TiG shot! Many doctors and nurses sadly are not informed on this issue. They will pressure you to give your child the vaccine instead. Even if you ask for the immunoglobulin, some medical employees might not know what this is or think you are mistaken and assume you want the vaccine. Sometimes they claim to have a “T” only vaccine, which is untrue.

Tetanus Toxoid = Vaccine Tetanus Immunoglobulin = Anti-Toxin