Tetanus is a preventable disease which commonly occurs with puncture or penetrating wounds, or contamination of cutaneous wounds. It may be secondary to surgical procedures such as gastrointestinal surgery on rare occasions. This article reports a fatal case of tetanus in a post operative patient in which the source of infection could not be ascertained. Active immunization of all persons against tetanus, adequate sterilization of surgical equipment and consumables as well as the operating rooms is advocated.

In Nigeria, nearly 110 million clinical cases of malaria are diagnosed per year, thus being a major public health problem.