Search
Related Links

 

 

Informative Articles

Experiencing Ache Knees and Back? You may have Osteoarthritis
Are you noticing as you mature you are experiencing stiffness or pain in your knees, ankles, back, and elbows? If you are 35 and above symptoms like these may be the early signs of Osteoarthritis. What is Osteoarthritis? According to...

Holistic Health
Health is defined by the WHO as 'a state of physical, mental and social well-being, not merely an absence of diseases or infirmity'. Flexible adjustment to the changing demands of environment is health and it is not a state. Genuine health...

Shaving - It's A Guy Thing
If you are 50 years old and have been shaving your face since starting to grow a beard you have dragged a razor blade across your face in excess of 9000 times... Yes, that much shaving and tugging at your skin combined with the irritations,...

The Shocking Truth About Eight Deadly Diseases That May Be Affecting Your Health and Lifestyle
PERMISSION TO REPUBLISH: This article may be republished in newsletters and on web sites provided attribution is provided to the author, and it appears with the included copyright, resource box and live web site link. Email notice of intent to...

Who else wants to know if they are heading for "Burn out" syndrome ?
Are you feeling tired, fed-up or irritable? Have you lost interest in work, hobbies or your partner/spouse? If the answer is YES then you could be suffering from " burn-out". For years doctors have recognised that stress is the...

 
Tetanus

Tetanus is a severe infection of the nervous system caused by the bacterium Clostridium tetani, which is commonly found in soil, household dust and animal feces. The bacteria contaminates the body normally through a deep cut or puncture wound, and can also result from injuries such as burns, frostbite and gangrene, where the skin's natural resistance is compromised. Tetanus cannot be passed by person-to-person contact, only by direct contamination of the blood stream, and it cannot be passed on via the tetanus vaccine.

Symptoms of Tetanus

The presenting symptom is usually the characteristic muscular spasm and rigidity of the jaw and neck (known as trismus or 'lockjaw'). Over a 24-48 hour period following this, muscle rigidity spreads down the body to the limbs, and can decrease the ability to swallow and breathe. Patients can be over-sensitive to light, noise and touch during the early stages of tetanus, and stimulus can cause painful muscular spasms that


cause fractures or dislocations. For this reason, patients are usually treated in dark, quiet areas in order to reduce these risks.

How common is it?

Due to widespread immunisation in childhood, tetanus is now extremely rare in developed countries. In the US, only 130 cases were reported in the period 1998-2000 (Dire 2005); most occurring among unvaccinated or inadequately vaccinated individuals following an acute injury.

How is it treated?

Treatment is by administration of the antitoxin in patients who are not adequately immunised, cleansing of the wound, and medical control of the symptoms. Patients may require invasive medical treatment in intensive care to assist with breathing and nutritional support. Most patients recover from tetanus and return to their full health over a period of 2-4 months.
About the Author

John Smith is a writer at healthcaredir ( http://www.healthcaredir.com ), a news source for the latest in health and medicine.

 

National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health
Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Library of Medicine offers access to health information for consumer, patient, and physicians ...
www.nlm.nih.gov
 
Health and Medical Information produced by doctors - MedicineNet.com
Doctor-produced health and medical information written for you to make informed decisions about your health concerns.
www.medicinenet.com
 
Medicine in the Yahoo! Directory
Collection of sites for health professionals, with sections on specific disciplines, organizations, continuing education, conferences, publications, ...
dir.yahoo.com
 
MedlinePlus Health Information from the National Library of Medicine
Health information from the National Library of Medicine. Easy access to Medline and Health topics, medical dictionaries, directories and publications.
medlineplus.gov
 
Medicine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Medicine is a branch of health science and the sector of public life ... The practice of medicine combines both science as the evidence base and art in the ...
en.wikipedia.org
 
Journal Home - Nature Medicine
Nature Medicine has a vacancy for a Locum Assistant Editor for six months. The position involves working in all aspects of the editorial process, ...
www.nature.com
 
The New England Journal of Medicine: Research & Review Articles on ...
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a weekly general medical journal that publishes new medical research findings, review articles, and editorial ...
content.nejm.org
 
eMedicine Clinical Knowledge Base
eMedicine features up-to-date, searchable, peer-reviewed medical journals, online physician reference textbooks, and a full-text article database in 62 ...
www.emedicine.com
 
Open Directory - Health: Medicine
the entire directory, only in Health/Medicine. Top: Health: Medicine (11429). Description · Medical Specialties (4888); Surgery (2265) ...
dmoz.org
 
the www virtual library biosciences medicine
www.ohsu.edu/cliniweb/wwwvl/ - Similar pages
 
Medicine - home
Bimonthly journal covering the latest results in clinical investigation relevant to hospital and office practice.
www.md-journal.com
 
Institute of Medicine
The Institute of Medicine serves as adviser to the nation to improve health.
www.iom.edu
 
ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News
Medical Research News. Health news on everything from cancer to nutrition. Full-text, images, updated daily.
www.sciencedaily.com
 
Google Directory - Health > Medicine
Search only in Medicine Search the Web. Medicine. Health > Medicine, Go to Directory Home. Categories. Alternative Medicine (6308) Basic Sciences (66) ...
www.google.com
 
the world wide web virtual library biosciences medicine
www.mcb.harvard.edu/biopages/medicine.html - Similar pages
 
PLoS Medicine - A Peer-Reviewed Open-Access Journal
PLoS Medicine is a peer-reviewed, international, open-access journal published ... Every issue of PLoS Medicine contains a selection of readers' responses. ...
medicine.plosjournals.org
 
Medicine On-Line - Medicine Online -The International Medical Journal
Medicine Online - independent and peer reviewed journal published by Priory Medical Journals - priory.com.
www.priory.com
 
Entrez PubMed
PubMed is a service of the US National Library of Medicine that includes over 16 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
 
Stanford University School of Medicine
Home Page of the Stanford University School of Medicine.
med.stanford.edu
 
Medicine OnLine
Meds.com offers medical information and education on cancer (lung cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, leukemia) and HIV / AIDS for patients, ...
www.meds.com