Health officials warn of tetanus from gardens

As the warming sun lures gardeners to get their hands dirty, health officials caution that soil may contain a deadly toxin.

Boni Stout, community health director at Flathead City-County Health Department, said gardeners and others exposed to yards and farms need to keep their tetanus booster shots up to date.

"The problem with tetanus toxin is it grows without air," she said.

A scratch or puncture wound provides a portal for the bacterium to enter the body.

Once in the body, the bacterium produces the powerful tetanus toxin. Stout said a victim has just 72 hours to get the booster shot.

Tetanus, commonly called lockjaw, causes muscle rigidity and excruciating spasms. Symptoms usually begin with a headache, spasms of the jaw muscle and perhaps irritability.

As the toxin spreads, muscles of the neck, arms, legs and stomach spasm. The infected person may suffer convulsions severe enough to break bones.

Victims may spend weeks in the hospital in intensive care. In the United States, three out of every 10 people who contract tetanus die as a result.

Stout recalled a few years ago that a woman fertilized her garden with horse manure. Her mother subsequently pricked her finger on a thorn when she was gardening.

"She died from tetanus," Stout said.

She said horse manure ranks high on the danger scale for tetanus since it regularly contains spores of the bacterium Colstridium tetani.

Stout urges people to keep their booster up-to-date because small wounds such as thorn pricks rarely send people running for an emergency tetanus shot.

Garden, yard or farm injuries cause close to one third of all tetanus cases, according to Joyce Burgett, manager of the immunization program of the state Department of Public Health and Human Services.

"Most of us are conscientious about getting tetanus shots for our children," Burgett said.

But statistics show that adults run an even higher risk of tetanus infections than children. Active seniors run the highest risk.

"The largest number of unimmunized are elderly," Stout said.

Many people attended school before the requirement for and availability of vaccine. According to studies, many people over 40 never received a primary course of the vaccine.

No one needs to risk an infection. Stout recommends that adults get a tetanus/diphtheria booster shot every 10 years from their private health-care provider or the health department.

The health department offers a tetanus/diptheria booster for adults for $28. Staffers offer an immunization clinic on Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. including the lunch hour.

On all other weekdays, immunizations are provided from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 to 4 p.m.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.