Tetanus Fatality – Ohio, 1991

Details

• Journal Article:
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Personal Author:
  Babcock, A. W. ; Fleming, M. ; Halpin, T. J. ; Migliozzi, Adeline A.
• Description:
  A fatal case of tetanus occurred in 1991 in an 80 year old woman in Ohio. She sought treatment in the emergency department of a hospital due to a stiff jaw and dysphagia. She had slightly slurred speech and difficulty opening her mouth, but no difficulty breathing. She had an erythematous draining wound on her shin from a wood splinter from a forsythia bush. Treatment included tetanus immune globulin and tetanus toxoid, plus intravenous clindamycin. During the ensuing 2 week period she was treated for tremors, muscle spasms, abdominal rigidity, apnea, pneumonia, and local infection. She died 2 weeks after admission. An editorial note discussed age factors and vaccination status in tetanus cases. It urged that internists, family practitioners, occupational physicians and other primary health care providers who treat adults use every opportunity to review the vaccination status of their patients and vaccinate against tetanus as appropriate. This patient had come into contact with numerous persons in the health care system, yet she had no history of any vaccinations ever against tetanus. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Bacterial Infections Epidemiology Occupational Health Preventive Medicine Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety
• Keywords:
  Age-factors Bacterial-infections Gardeners Medical-treatment NIOSH-Author Preventive-medicine Risk-factors Vaccines
• Series:
  Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• ISSN:
  0149-2195 (print) ; 1545-861X (digital)
• Publisher:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (U.S.)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  3 pdf pages
• Volume:
  42
• Issue:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00235880
• Citation:
  MMWR 1993 Mar; 42(8):148-149
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1993
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:1e3694eb28915c0af7ebb80348b382151dee1b723ae342a167296a990c9b99f4b81c7ad20265a3e943ad6ed8087f1ab84fc236226e005e775cd4b711c7be80e4
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/183310/cdc_183310_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 29.41 KB ]