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Tetanus

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Book cover Bacterial Infections of Humans

Tetanus is a noncommunicable infectious disease of humans and certain animal species, acquired usually through environmental exposure. Clostridium tetani is an anaerobic, spore-forming bacilli ubiquitous in the soil. The spores germinate to vegetative bacilli when introduced into the soft tissues of the host under conditions in which the partial pressure of molecular oxygen is low. The vegetative organisms produce a potent neurotoxin that acts on the central nervous system (CNS), leading to the muscular contractions characteristic of the illness.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Immunization Program, Office of the Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30333, USA

    Steven G. F. Wassilak

  2. US PHS, Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Diseases Branch National Immunization Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30333, USA

    Katrina Kretsinger

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  1. Steven G. F. Wassilak
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  1. Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Clifton Road NE., 1518, Atlanta, 30322, U.S.A.

    Philip S. Brachman

  2. College of Medicine, Office of Faculty Affairs, Drexel University, Race Street 1505, Philadelphia, 19102, U.S.A.

    Elias Abrutyn

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Wassilak, S.G.F., Kretsinger, K. (2009). Tetanus. In: Brachman, P., Abrutyn, E. (eds) Bacterial Infections of Humans. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09843-2_38

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