Rivermom
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Tetanus and jabs.Arising from some of the comments on a thread about handling fleeces, and some of the confusion expressed,Iam putting this in a new thread, because I think it is rather important.
Tetanus is a very dangerous sickness caused by getting a bacterial infection in a deep wound. The Tetanus bug grows where there is no oxygen, and as it grows it releases a nerve agent that can kill you.
the most likely places to pick up this bug is in farm soil, or from farm animals.
If you have had the original vaccination, and it's boosters, you have lifelong immunity from tetanus, and further vaccinations could cause an allergic reaction, like allergic shock.
anything you are already vaccinated against, a further vaccination is dangerous.
and multiple vaccinations can have unexpected effects. So before you get a jab, do the research.
And if you do get a deep wound, clean it out well, and don't let it close at the top before it heals from underneath.
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RichardW
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Last time I went to the docs he said that cos I am exposed to it daily in my work I would not need a booster. Is that true? He said it was for people that dont normaly come into contact with it in their daily lifes. Which sounds right. Natural exposure does give protection & is how vaccinations came about in the first place.
Justme
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cab
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Really, if you are at all unsure of your status with regard to tet jabs, go to your GP and talk it over. Its worth maintaining immunity to this bug.
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RichardW
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| cab wrote: | | Really, if you are at all unsure of your status with regard to tet jabs, go to your GP and talk it over. Its worth maintaining immunity to this bug. |
Thats what I did. When we moved here I knew we could be exposed to it. Thats when I got the you wont need it responce as you will be getting daily exposure to it.
Justme
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Treacodactyl
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| cab wrote: | | Really, if you are at all unsure of your status with regard to tet jabs, go to your GP and talk it over. Its worth maintaining immunity to this bug. |
It's a shame then that there's no records kept of when you are given Tetanus jabs by people other than your GP. I don't think I've ever had one by a GP, mostly I've had them in hospital and perhaps one in school and this doesn't seem to be recorded. 
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IanNW
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Tetanus vaccine is required every 5-10 years dependant on exposure.
As an adult if you have received 5 doses of the Tetanus booster you are considered to have lifelong immunity.
Wounds are considered to be tetanus prone if they are sustained more than 6 hours before surgical treatment or at any interval after injury and are puncture type wounds(particularly if contaminated with soil or manure)or show devitalised tissue or are septic, compound fractures, or contain foreign opbjects. All wounds should receive thorough cleaning.
For clean wounds
Fully immunised individuals (those who have received a total of 5 doses of a tetanus containing vaccine at appropriate intervals) and those whos vaccinations are within the last 10 years.
These people do not need to have a tetanus booster just clean the wound as normal and watch for signs of infection. i.e swelling, redness, and pain.
For tetanus prone wounds
If risk of infection is high then a booster maybe given at the discretion of the attending Dr. A coourse of Antibiotics may also be given.
hope that clears up confusion.
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vegplot
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We went to have some jabs recenlty and were told we wouldn't need any more as we'd both had 2 or 3 previously, best to get advice tthough for you particual circumstances. We didn't need a doctors appointment, just saw the local nurse.
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mihto
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Thank you for your excellent posting, IanNW, and wellcome to the Forum!
There seem to be some confusion around Tetanus boosters, but IanNW's contribution covers the facts nicely. Just remember that dog/cat bites are the kind of wounds where one needs to take special care. Antibiotics are very often the best way to treat those wounds.
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Barefoot Andrew
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I really ought to renew mine - it has been ten years this summer.
A.
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bagpuss
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If I recall corrently the nhs has stopped provided boosters after the one you get at 15 though, you only get one now if you have deep cut or injury
that being said if you ask for one many doctors I think will still give it too you
that or tell them you are travelling to somewhere that needs it like russia and you might get it for free
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tiggy
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been wondering about this for a while,last jab i had was early about 1985 . I spend a lot of time in contact with canal water ; garden soil and pet animals but not farm stock. weils disease is another risk.due to rats in urban canals, my husband seems to think im immune to most stuff due to constant exposure to manky and germ infested things and certainly all wounds so far heal with minimum fuss and basic first aid however i think next time at doctors i will ask.
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Chez
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I think that you can just ask for boosters if you work on the land, until you've had two or three, ten years apart. You can at my Ma's surgery, anyway.
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Treacodactyl
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| mihto wrote: | | Just remember that dog/cat bites are the kind of wounds where one needs to take special care. Antibiotics are very often the best way to treat those wounds. |
Yep, that's why I was given my booster last year after a dog decided to sink one of it's rather large teeth into my leg. Went to casualty and had the wound flushed out, where I almost passed out, and I was given a tetanus booster, a course of antibiotics and some special wound dressings.
It was a terrible experience, I couldn't drink for a whole week! 
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tahir
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| Treacodactyl wrote: | | It's a shame then that there's no records kept of when you are given Tetanus jabs by people other than your GP. I don't think I've ever had one by a GP, mostly I've had them in hospital and perhaps one in school and this doesn't seem to be recorded. |
Yup. Just had a booster and my medical records show no previous tetanus jabs at all.
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Treacodactyl
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| tahir wrote: | | Treacodactyl wrote: | | It's a shame then that there's no records kept of when you are given Tetanus jabs by people other than your GP. I don't think I've ever had one by a GP, mostly I've had them in hospital and perhaps one in school and this doesn't seem to be recorded. |
Yup. Just had a booster and my medical records show no previous tetanus jabs at all. |
On a practical note, I now keep my own records and will see if my GP will add a note to my records the next time I visit them.
I would think it would be wise for anyone with children to keep a note of all their injections and boosters etc themselves, I'm sure many do but I don't think I'm alone in not knowing what I've had and when.
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Barefoot Andrew
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As a shoeless chap I wonder if I ought to be extra vigilant about my jabbage.
A.
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mihto
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| Barefoot Andrew wrote: | As a shoeless chap I wonder if I ought to be extra vigilant about my jabbage.
A. |
Only if you insist on stepping on a rusty nail.
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Barefoot Andrew
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Sommat to be avoided I feel...
A.
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KatP
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On tetanus jabs / boosters and when they will have been got:
Anyone of around my age will have had (unless parents advised otherwise) a booster at age 5, and another at age 15 along with polio as part of school immunisation programmes. (Although why you get a sugarlump at 5 and not 15 is beyond me, the polio still tasted awful when I was 15!)
I went and had another booster 6 years ago at 26 at doctors. I may have paid for this, I paid for something but as I asked them for Meningitis C (Teacher - saw no reason why I was less at risk at 26 than at 25) aswell it may have been that. Will get another one in another 3-4 years. Guidelines used to be every 5 years, but I had understood that to be changed to every 10 years.
Tetanus is horrible. It used to be known as lockjaw, there's a reason for that and its' not nice. Personally, as someone frequently up to elbows in mud, always around horses and very prone to injuring myself foolishly I will be getting another booster in a couple of years time. I'm not convinced that being exposed to the bacterium day to day will be of any help, as it will not be growing in the same way as in a wound, and outside the body it will not be likely to trigger an immune response.
Rusty nails definately to be avoided. Ouch!
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gil
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This is a very topical thread for me - I sustained a cut while working outdoors last week, and spent most of the week wondering whether I should get a tetanus booster (or if I needed one).
When I had my last booster aged 15, I had a reaction afterwards. Even though it was quite mild, it was not pleasant. I have since been bitten by a dog and needed stitches, and the doc in A&E thought it would be better if I did not have another tetanus jab because of that previous reaction.
Went to my GP on Thursday, and we discussed.
Apparently, policy on number of jabs and frequency has varied over the years.
If you are in your late 40s, you should (apparently) have had two jabs as an infant, with a booster at 5, 10 and 15 yo.
This means you have had the set of 5, and should have lifelong immunity. Subject to what has been raised above about very dodgy deep wounds, when you might need an extra.
If you are younger than this (in your 30s like KatP), the policy was then changed to do the boosters at 10 years apart, so I'm guessing baby jabs, 5 and 15, plus another at 25 ?????
It seems to be that you need to have had 5 jabs in total, at whatever interval that was in fashion.
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Jamanda
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Did your Doc say when the policy changed? Would people in their early forties have had all of them?
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tiggy
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any advice for over fifties? also are over 75 yr olds at increased risk.this is one tough old sod , rural upbringing and then job in iron ore mine. off to sea followed by a shore job in industry.now gardens and also messes about with old machinery so no cotton wool environment just lots of honest dirt. To wander off topic a bit , health advice from his mum [born 1891] 1.you have to eat a peck of dirt before you die,but not all at once. 2. To stay healthy you need to eat your weight in onions each year.3. Never shove anything smaller than your elbow in your earholes! 4 The whiter your bread the sooner youre dead,
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gil
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Not sure about that - I've been looking up immunisation policy documents on the net to see when they brought in the tetanus programme....
'twas in the 40s, but rolled out to everywhere in the UK from the end of 1960 (IIRC). At that point, it was baby jabs (diptheria, tetanus, whooping cough, + polio on a sugarlump), then another set of the same, aged 3-5; followed by 10 and 15yrs tetanus boosters.
However, health authorities (and thus probably GPs) were only required to submit figures for immunisations to central govt for stats purposes after the mid-1960s. So maybe didn't bother recording before that :
For example, there is no trace in my records of the early jabs, up to age 5-ish. I remember having the 5yo jab + sugarlump done at the Health/Child Clinic, not at my GP surgery, and not by my GP. I suspect this might have been a specific Immunisation Clinic.
Regarding when the system changed, jamanda - it's whether or not you can remember having a tetanus booster at age 10. You could ask your GP to check in your records if you can't remember. By then, they were recording immunisations for stats, so it should show up.
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gil
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@ tiggy
The older you are, the greater the risk, as you are less likely to have had any immunisations.
However, at the same time as the vaccination programme was rolled out to newborns from 1960 onwards, there was also a piecemeal prog of immunising older children and adults.
If you UK google 'tetanus immunisation 1960s', there's a site/report that explains , with figures for the number of tetanus cases 1984-2002, broken down by age group.
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Blacksmith
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My last tetanus jab was a few years ago following an accident at work.
After my stitches the nurse asked when I had my last jab ?" Not for years" I replied, rolling up my sleeve.
She shook her head. "Bit lower for this injection" 
Why did it have to the day I wore black pants with the 'lastic showing through the waist band ? 
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dpack
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last booster 2001
went to doctors mentioned 2 tons well rotted manure in the garden
nurse did gentle intramusclar jab in arm
think that is my 5
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IanNW
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Guidelines for Immunisations (present only so i do not know about past but these will probably be changed as they often do)
First year of life
Diptheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Polio, heamophilus, Men C
3 doses at intervals of 4 weeks, first dose at 2 months of age
MMR usually given at 12-15 months
Nursery age
4-5 years of age
Diptheria, Tetanus, polio, pertussis and MMR booster dose.
Minimum of 3 years needs to have passed for this booster since
initial immunisation.
Before leaving school or starting employment.
age 14-16
Diptheria, tetanus and polio booster.
So reading between the lines you should have had 5 tetanus jabs if you have received the full course, as the initial innoculation consists of 3 jabs. So for people who are 16-35 will probably have had all 5 immunisations, and wil therefore have lifelong immunity.
As to people stating about Polio no longer being given on a sugar cube is to do with the government claiming it caused dental decay.
Groups of high risk can also get the following jabs
BCG Vaccines - no longer given at age 15 in schools as apparently rare in the UK. Yeah right why we seen an increase in TB due to immigration.
Hep A - High risk employees. i.e. health professionals, Police, fire etc
Hep B - same as Hep A
Influenza - As above plus elderly.
Pneumococcal - As above plus elderly
Tetanus
Smallpox - Do animal handlers still get this?
I got it but for other reasons not a pleasant innoculation to receive.
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