Vivek.M wrote:

Greetings fellow URGLERs and RGers,
Have you been vaccinated against
Tetanus? I know, I know: You were - as babies and kids, but have you
been vaccinated recently? As in, the last ten years?

I cut my foot yesterday and having forgotten about it, scooted out
into the garden for some digging and mucking; It started to rain and i
continued till i noticed that my foot felt a wee bit sore - Alas! I
wear broken down shoes which leak water and mud. Well, when i examined
it, i found the cut and treated it with anti-septic. I also checked up
on when i had last taken my Tetanus shots. Alack! my license had
un-fortunately expired!

Today morning i woke up with a mildly sore neck from over-sleeping
and sore muscles ( probably from the sudden shock of actually working
*grin* ), however i decided to do the cautious thing and update my
tetanus vaccine. I also googled up on tetanus and though i'd share my
findings:

1. 5 Shots: 3 (as a wee lad)) + 1 + 1 (by 6 yrs)
2.A booster shot every 10 years.

I would also suggest wearing watertight and mud proof shoes, not that
you can't contract tetanus via a nick on your hand..

There is no need to err..panic..if you do expose yourself.. since the
tetanus bacteria has a incubation period of 3 days to 15 weeks (long
after the wound or pain from the wound has passed!), however you must
get the following done:


Someone I know got stung by a bee ( about 6 to 8 weeks back). He did
not get a tetanus shot. He constantly complains about feeling uneasy
and tense. Is it possible that he may be infected with tetanus and is
there anything he can do now about it.



1. Wash wound in antiseptic.
2. Go to a doc and get a tetanus shot.
3. Get a tetanus immunoglobin injection (which is a anti-dote for the
tetanus toxin. It does not provide immunity in itself). Some ppl may
be allergic to this, so remind the doc about allergic reactions.
4. Wait patiently for a month and see if you survive *grin*.
You can garden in this period, but don't expose your wound to more
bacteria.

Here's a link to motivate lazy bum's:
http://www.abc.net.au/health/minutes...es/s597774.htm
http://www.tetanus.org/

Info links:
http://www.acep.org/webportal/Patien...etanusShot.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetanus
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tetanus.html
http://www.vaccinehaffkine.com/faqinfo7.htm
http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles...ectionId=12476