’Cracker victims told anew to get anti-tetanus shots

A health official reiterated yesterday his call to those who sustained firecracker-related wounds to immediately seek medical help or else risk tetanus.

Dr. Eric Tayag, director of the Department of Health (DOH)’s National Epidemiology Center, said even though a week has already passed since the New Year’s Eve revelry, there is still time for people wounded or burned by firecracker blasts to get tetanus antitoxin shots.

"Don’t waste time. Have your wounds properly attended by doctors. Even small wounds and burns should not be ignored," he said in an interview.

Tayag added that while the incubation period for tetanus is one month after a wound is acquired, it is not known when the infection would set in.

Tetanus is a bacterial disease that affects the nervous system. It is contracted through a cut or wound that becomes contaminated with tetanus bacteria, commonly found in soil, dust and manure.

Infected persons may suffer severe muscle spasms, leading to locking of the jaw muscles — hence the disease’s other name, lockjaw — and generalized muscle spasms that cause death by suffocation if left untreated.

The DOH registered a total of 610 injuries related to firecrackers and stray bullets and watusi (dancing firecracker) poisoning from Dec. 21, 2005 to Jan. 1 this year. So far, however, the agency has not monitored any cases of tetanus related to firecracker blasts.

According to Dr. Arturo Cabanban, director of government-run San Lazaro Hospital (SLH), prevention is cheaper than treating a tetanus case.

He said anti-tetanus shots cost from P1,000 to P10,000, depending on the weight of the patient and the gravity of the wounds. Treating a full-blown tetanus case, on the other hand, could cost upwards of P30,000.

"This amount does not include lost productivity. You may also have to be confined in a hospital for one month so you would not be able to work or to go to school during that period," Cabanban said.

In young children, the tetanus vaccine is given as part of a series that also includes diphtheria and whooping cough vaccines.

Someone who sustains a wound and who has not had a tetanus booster shot during the past five years needs to get an anti-tetanus shot as soon as possible after the injury, he stressed.