Unvaccinated boy spends 57 days in hospital after reported tetanus infection



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According to a report recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2017, a six-year-old boy from Oregon was hospitalized for 57 days as a result of a tetanus diagnosis .

The boy, who would never have received a tetanus shot, would have sliced ​​his head "while he was playing outside on a farm". He was not taken to a medical facility and his will was cleaned and sewn at home.

Less than a week later (about 6 days), the boy began to experience tetanus symptoms, including "jaw cramps and involuntary muscle spasms of the upper limbs, followed by an arch of the back and back, "according to the report.

When he began to have trouble breathing, the boy was taken to the hospital where he received care.

His wound was cleansed, damaged tissues were removed and a DTaP vaccine (diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough) was administered, as well as "tetanus immunoglobulin". The boy reportedly suffered from hypertension and his temperature would have reached 104.9 degrees. Five days after the beginning of his hospital stay, the doctors resorted to a tracheotomy.

The report continues:

From the 35th day of hospitalization, the patient tolerated a 5-day withdrawal from neuromuscular blockade. At day 44, his ventilator was stopped and he tolerated the sips of clear liquids. On day 47, he was transferred to the intermediate care unit. Three days later, he was walking with a 20-foot assistance. On the 54th day, his tracheostomy was removed and 3 days later he was transferred to a rehabilitation center for 17 days.

In total, "hospitalization costs" alone cost more than $ 800,000. Following the boy's recovery, the family reportedly refused to receive DTaP.

The report notes that "this is the first case of tetanus in children in [over 30] years in Oregon. "

According to the Mayo Clinic, "Tetanus is caused by a toxin produced by bacteria, Clostridium tetani, spores in soil, dust, and animal excrement." When spores enter a deep, fleshy wound, they develop. in bacteria that can produce a potent toxin, tetanospasmine ".

A tetanus vaccine was being developed as early as the 1920s, but it was not administered to children regularly until the late 1940s. From the late 1940s to the present day, the number of tetanus cases went from 500 to 600 a year at an annual rate of about 29, reports the CDC.

Of the 197 cases of tetanus reported during the years 2009-2015, 16 people died. This is a mortality rate of 8.1%.

According to the CDC, the 2016 data indicates that 62.2% of adults were up to date with their tetanus vaccination. A large majority of young children and babies are sufficiently vaccinated.

The modern anti-vaccination movement seems to have been triggered by an article published in 1998 by Andrew Wakefield and a dozen colleagues claiming that the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella) could be linked to autism in children. The results were discussed later and repeatedly, but the myth persisted.

It turned out that Wakefield "had been funded by lawyers who had been hired by parents in lawsuits against companies producing vaccines," according to an article published in the Indian Journal of Psychiatry in 2011. In addition, the article indicates that Wakefield and others "were guilty of willful fraud (they chose data that suited their case, they falsified the facts)."

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