Precautions for tetanus injection and the time of tetanus injection

Tetanus shot is a measure currently taken by many people to treat wounds after being injured. When getting a tetanus shot, everyone needs to know more about the relevant precautions and time.

Things to note when taking a tetanus shot:

1. There are two types of tetanus shots injected after an injury: one is the commonly used refined tetanus antitoxin, which can cause anaphylactic shock, so an allergy test must be done before injection; the other is tetanus immunoglobulin, which has no allergic reaction, so no test is required before injection. No matter which injection your child receives, there is no need to worry since no adverse reactions have been found.

2. Small wounds will not be infected with tetanus. Tetanus bacteria are anaerobic bacteria and conditionally pathogenic bacteria. They can only grow and reproduce under anaerobic conditions or when the wound is deep and accompanied by aerobic infection. Tetanus bacteria mostly grow in soil and rust, so if the wound is deep and contaminated with soil or is pierced by rusty iron objects, tetanus antitoxin should be injected.

3. If the skin is just scratched and the wound is not deep, there is no need to inject tetanus antitoxin as long as proper cleaning is done. Or you can just use some disinfectant such as mercurochrome to wipe it on the surface. If the wound is dry and there is no exudate, there is no need to wipe it again.

4. Because tetanus antitoxin is an immune horse serum, it is a foreign protein to the human body and has antigenicity (allergic reaction), so an allergy test should be performed before using the medicine. If the test result is negative, tetanus antitoxin can be injected directly. If the test result is positive, desensitization injection should be performed, that is, tetanus antitoxin should be injected in small doses divided into 4-5 times. If tetanus antitoxin has been used for more than one week, skin testing must be repeated if it is used again.

When should the tetanus shot be given?

The so-called tetanus shot is a way of obtaining protection through passive immunization, that is, after facing possible infection, protection is obtained by injecting anti-tetanus globulin. There are two commonly used preparations: 1) Tetanus antitoxin (TAT, derived from horse). 2) Human tetanus immunoglobulin (TIG, derived from humans). The former requires a skin test, while the latter does not. The price is slightly more expensive, about a few dozen yuan, which is within the psychological tolerance of ordinary people.

Of course, the sooner TAT and TIG are injected after an injury, the better, generally not more than 24 hours, but it is still worth injecting after that (because the incubation period of tetanus infection is generally about a week, but the disease can occur as quickly as 24 hours, so the sooner the injection after an injury, the better). The protection time of TAT is about 2-3 days, and the protection time of TIG is 2-3 weeks. There is no absolute conclusion in clinical practice on this, but it is roughly within this range. If you face the risk of infection again after this time, you need to be injected again. The duration of protection provided by active immunity obtained through injection of tetanus toxoid is relatively complicated, and you can consult your doctor. Generally speaking, if you are injured within 3 years after the last vaccination, you do not need to be injected with tetanus toxoid again. If it has been more than 3 years, you should get a booster injection. For severely contaminated wounds, in addition to the injection of tetanus toxoid, TAT or TIG may be injected at another site as appropriate. In fact, ideally, if someone has no history of immunization and is facing possible infection, in addition to being protected by an injection of TAT or TIG, they should also be injected with tetanus toxoid for active immunity if circumstances permit. However, due to clinical limitations such as individual and hospital reasons, this measure has not been taken, and the use of TAT or TIG alone is still the main method.

For pregnant women, the toxic effects of TAT or TIG are unclear and should be used with caution. However, tetanus toxoid (i.e. tetanus vaccine) is safe and, generally speaking, is used the same way as normal people. As for the prevention of neonatal tetanus, if the pregnant woman has been vaccinated with tetanus toxoid in the past, she only needs to receive a shot of tetanus toxoid in the early pregnancy, at the latest 3 weeks before delivery. The antibodies can cross the placenta to allow the fetus to also obtain this protective antibody. If the pregnant woman has not been vaccinated with tetanus toxoid in the past, she should receive another shot 4 weeks after the first shot as a booster.