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Lockjaw, or tetanus, is a bacterial disease that causes muscle tightening and stiffness, starting in the jaw or neck and spreading to other parts of the body. Vaccination is the best prevention, recommended every 10 years, and is crucial after a deep wound. Treatment is limited once symptoms develop, and hospitalization may be required. The disease can be fatal, especially for the very young and old.
Lockjaw is the common name for the bacterial disease known as tetanus. Most people are familiar with the disease by simply getting an inoculation if they are injured and their skin is broken. Not getting a vaccine means you can develop lockjaw, which is characterized by muscle tightening and stiffness that starts in the jaw or neck but can easily move to other parts of the body.
For lockjaw to develop, there must be a deep wound, which is why the vaccine is often given as a precaution to those injured with deep cuts. In particular, it is common when there are chances of the cut being exposed to animal feces. However, the condition has also developed in very clean and sterile environments, including following surgical cuts.
For those who believe they may have been exposed to tetanus, the best way to prevent lockjaw symptoms is to get vaccinated. Generally, doctors recommend vaccination once every ten years. However, most don’t keep track of when their last shot was, so as a precaution, injured people will often get another shot if they sustain the type of injury that could lead to the condition. The incubation of the disease usually takes eight days, although it can take anywhere from three days to three weeks. Because of this short incubation period, it’s crucial to get a vaccine as soon as possible after receiving a deep wound.
The best treatment option is vaccination. However, once symptoms begin to develop, vaccination becomes unnecessary. In these cases, the symptoms are the only thing that can be treated until the disease runs its course. This will include treating the spasms to make them less severe. If the disease progresses to this point, hospitalization will likely be required. This is a serious condition that can lead to death because the spasms can limit your ability to breathe. In fact, death occurs in one in ten cases when lockjaw develops.
Those most at risk for the condition include the very young and very old. Even in cases where a newborn has not been injured, the disease can be passed from mother to child. This accounts for a large number of infant mortality cases in the least developed countries. Although less serious in healthy adults, the danger of lockjaw shouldn’t be underestimated.
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