Tetanus is a serious disease triggered by the toxin produced by the obligate anaerobic bacterium Clostridium tetani. The ways in which this microorganism can penetrate into the organism are many but in all cases there must be a skin lesion, generally deep, caused by objects or tools contaminated by the spores of the aforementioned bacterium.
If the disease is not promptly diagnosed and treated, the consequences could be tragic. The best method to avoid the appearance of tetanus consists precisely in carrying out the specific vaccine.
Given the severity and potential lethality of tetanus, tetanus vaccination is one of the mandatory vaccines for newborns. After the first course of treatment including the administration of three doses of vaccine, periodic boosters should be performed in order to maintain protection from disease contraction.
Vaccination consists in the simple execution of an intramuscular injection in the arm and does not require any observation period.
tetani.
Once administered, the vaccine induces an immune response in the patient which will protect him from the attack of the aforementioned bacterium through the so-called immunological memory. However, since the tetanus vaccination actively stimulates the immune system of the patient to whom it is administered, its efficacy against the pathogen in question is not immediate, but takes a few weeks.
hydrate, useful for improving the immunological response induced by the vaccine.Despite the toxin produced by C. tetani is rendered harmless, it is still able to stimulate the immune system of the recipient of the vaccine, thus ensuring protection from the contraction of tetanus.
Naturally, in addition to the tetanus anatoxin, the vaccine also contains other substances - the excipients - whose task is to ensure the stability and preservation of the formulation.
inactivated. In this regard, it is possible to distinguish five different types of vaccine:
- Monovalent tetanus vaccine.
- Bivalent antidiftotetanic vaccine, that is, against tetanus and diphtheria (it contains both tetanus and diphtheria anatoxin).
- Trivalent diftothetanopertussis vaccine, protects the individual from tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (contains tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis anatoxin).
- Trivalent diphthotetanopoly vaccine, protects the individual from tetanus, diphtheria and poliomyelitis (it contains tetanus and diphtheria anatoxin to which one or more inactivated strains of the poliomyelitis virus are added).
- Tetravalent antidphtetanus-pertussis-polio vaccine, protects the individual from tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis and poliomyelitis (it contains tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis anatoxin and one or more inactivated strains of the polio virus).
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