Epidemiology of tetanus in Italy in years 1971-2000

Abstract

The incidence of reported tetanus in Italy decreased from 0.5/100 000 in the 1970s to 0.2/100 000 in the 1990’s. During this period of time, the case-fatality ratio decreased from 68% to 39%. Italy has the highest reported number of tetanus cases in European countries. Elderly women are the most affected: the proportion of women aged over 64 years among cases has increased from 60% in the 1970s to 76% in the 1990s. Vaccination campaigns need to be conducted to target this group, and the surveillance of tetanus has to be improved to identify additional groups of population at risk.

Tetanus in adults: Clinical presentation, treatment and predictors of mortality in a tertiary hospital in Ethiopia

“…Though tetanus is an uncommon disease in the developed world due to effective vaccination coverage [1][2][3][4][5][6] it remains one of the major health problems in the developing world [7]. In the former tetanus occurs mainly in the older adults [5,6] while in the latter it occurs mainly in neonates and young adults because of inadequate vaccination coverage and preventive measures after sustaining an injury [7].…”

“…Lack of clean delivery is an important risk factor for neonatal tetanus. Tetanus is a severe disease associated with a high mortality which varies from 15% to 72.2% [3,4,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] depending on the available treatment facilities. Treating tetanus patients in intensive care unit (ICU) improves the survival rate [23].…”

Tetanus seroepidemiology and factors influencing immunity status among farmers of advanced age

“…It is reported that farmers acquire tetanus at a higher rate than the rest of the population [19,20]. Since they work in an environment laden with responsible organism, farmers are one of the most risky populations for tetanus.…”

The Disease that is Unforgettable: a Case of Rapidly Progressive Tetanus

“…Tetanoz gelişme olasılığı olan ve olmayan yaralar arasında kesin ayırım yapılamadığı için birincil immunizasyonu tam olmayan çocuklarda veya on yıldan daha uzun süredir tetanoz aşısı yapılmamış yetişkinlerde meydana gelen açık yaralanmalarda ve immunizasyon durumu bilinmeyen tüm açık yaralarda, tetanoz aşısı ile birlikte immunglobülinin de yapılması önerilmektedir (9 Tetanozda giriş yolu olarak sıklıkla alt ekstremitelerde görülen yaralanmalar suçlanmaktadır (3,4). Ergönül ve ark.…”